Ancient Magic and Fairy Tails
by pumpkin spice
Summary: After returning to Fairy Tail, Lucy attempts to carry on with her life. But with an ominous premonition, Kisa revealing strange aspects of her magic, and the sanctum stellar spirits; can the two mages really pretend nothing is wrong? Has OC's.
1. Prologue

I haven't written fanfiction in a while… So I apologize if this is no good. Also, I am currently in college and am about to try to earn my PhD so I rarely have free time. This means this will be uploaded very sporadically. Of course if people seem to like the story, I will try to update more frequently. Also, I will be including some characters of my own and if you don't like them then you don't have to read… Just to clarify. I do not own Fairy Tail or any mentioned references to any other form of published material. I may accidentally or purposefully include plot devices or characters from other anime, stories, and the like but I will try to reference them if I do. Please tell me about any mistakes if you happen to have the time and tell me what you think. Thank you for reading in advance and I hope you enjoy!

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

It was a still night.

She could feel the windless darkness smothering any noise that normally echoed throughout the forest she called home. No sound of crickets or birds… No breeze to lift the heavy feeling in the air. It was as if the earth itself was holding its' breath; about to plunge into some unknown abyss.

She sighed. It was not a night she wanted to be out. A foreboding feeling was telling her to turn around and stay in her comfortable tree house before some annoyance arose. Or maybe some danger.

She sighed again. _"Humans" _she thought. _"It feels like I am going to get tangled in some other human's matters…"_

But that was ridiculous. Humans rarely ventured into her forest. She made sure of that. The only people who dared visit were always associated with that old master of Fairy Tail…

"Makarov…" She whispered.

He always did manage to keep in touch. It had been many years since they had first became acquainted. First became friends.

She frowned. _"Damn memories."_

He always was a nuisance. Even now, he would bring some young upstart for her to fix after some traumatic experience. Or himself.

The old woman visibly shuddered. The last time she had been forced to help him, the vehemence with which she denied treating him at first was quickly dropped when she saw his condition. She had thought that was it. The old mage had surely used up the last of his lives. She had not even listened to the explanation the young hothead and armor wearing mage who had brought his crippled form to her house had supplied. As they were saying something about 'Hades and Bluenote of Grimoire Heart' or 'Tenrou Island' she had already begun looking over her old friend's prone form.

The old man had looked so close to death, she was still amazed that he had managed to walk back to his beloved guild on his own two feet only two weeks ago. The healer had been unsure if she could save her friend this time, and she was grateful he was better. There had been so many wounds and he was so depleted of magic…

Polyursica humphed to herself as she walked along the well known path. At least she had her house back now. And it was the night of a full moon. The mushroom which she needed to make her special rejuvenating potion only sprouted when the moon was at its fullest. No matter how strange the air felt, she needed to get to her destination. Preferably without interruptions.

As the old healer approached the cold spring where her mushrooms thrived, she knew something was wrong. Very wrong. Where there should have been only the soft sounds of bubbling water and whisper of grass, her ears detected another noise. A terrible noise. One she was dreading.

The sound of breathing. Human breathing to be specific.

The pool came in to view and she sighed miserably. No mushrooms were worth this. Why did she ignore her instincts? Why didn't she stay home?

It was two young people. A boy and a girl she deduced as she drew closer. Both were sleeping peacefully a small distance away from each other. She drew closer to the nearer of the two, the young man.

He was of average height and build, wearing no shirt or shoes but only unremarkable brown trousers. His long, dark brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail that was splayed on the ground next to him. His shorter bangs obscured his closed eyes and he was slightly tanned. He snored softly as he lay on his back, arms and legs splayed out comfortably. Overall, a very average looking human. So Polyursica turned toward the young woman next.

She was also abnormally… normal looking. Long, light brown hair fanned behind her curled up form as she slumbered peacefully. She was rather short and stocky for a human, not either very thin or chubby though it was rather hard to tell with her in a fetal position. She was wearing an unflattering brown dress of the same material the boy wore and was rather pale. The mage noticed indifferently the girl possessed smaller breasts than the old woman was used to seeing on girls these days. Then again… it could be Makarov's preferences with who he let in his guild. Old pervert.

She shook her head vigorously. Now was not the time to think about that sort of thing. She wished fervently that she had stayed home tonight. Maybe she could just leave and they would never know…

"Mmm…"

Well, that hope was dashed Polyursica thought miserably as the young man stirred and began to sit up. He blinked twice, looking around the clearing until his gaze came to rest upon the girl. His head tilted to the side, confused. Then he noticed Polyursica staring at him.

"Wha-" He started before yawning loudly. He blinked groggily again.

"Where am I? Who are you?" He asked politely, almost nervously. He seemed to sense she was not pleased about something. What he didn't know was it was entirely his fault for interrupting her routine with his… humanness.

"I have no idea," she quipped shortly.

She nearly turned to leave before a strange urge caught her. She sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time that evening. Her compassion was really going to kill her one day. She abruptly walked over to where the boy was still sitting with a perplexed expression, looking at his still sleeping companion.

He flinched as she jammed her fingers to his forehead harshly, releasing her magic to check for injuries and sickness. The tingling feeling of magic power passed when she learned all she wanted to know. The boy was fine, maybe a cut on his face from her fingernail but otherwise perfectly healthy. She turned to the girl.

"Hey, wait a sec-" The boy started as she did the same to the girl, though a little gentler.

Power again rushed from her fingertips, exploring the girl's body for any affliction. She really was too kind, especially to humans. Makarov and his Fairy Tail children must be rubbing off on her. Just as she was about to pull away, satisfied she could leave without any bad aftertaste, a jolt sparked through her.

The old mage's eye narrowed. _"What is that?"_

As she was about to investigate deeper, the boy interrupted.

"May I ask what you're doing?" He winced, rubbing his forehead. "Who is that anyway?"

"Shhh!" She snapped, annoyed. He looked gave her a subdued look and fell quiet again. She turned her attention back to the sleeping girl. Searching again for the strange disturbance, she focused her magic.

There! A heavy dark aura, sickening and oppressive pulsed ominously in the girl's stomach and wove itself into the girl's own essence. The mage shuddered. A seal. A powerful one at that. It was siphoning the young girl's power, confirming in Polyursica's mind that both humans were mages. She had felt power in both but this girl had some sort of barrier inside her, weakening and feeding off her very life force.

"Shit!" The old mage cursed. She swore heavily as the boy looked on in surprise and trepidation. She turned swiftly to address him.

"You," she barked. "Pick her up and follow me. Now!"

The young man scrambled to his feet and hovered over the girl. He bit his lip nervously before gently picking her up and slinging her over his back. When she was securely draped over his back, he hooked his arms under her knees and jogged quickly after the old woman. Walking briskly, she muttered darkly under her breath. She hated how humans always managed to invade her privacy. But she hated more how she could never seem to ignore a person in need.

"So… Um…" The young man started. He looked at his feet as they walked. "What is your name? And why am I following you?"

"Polyursica," she stated tersely. "Your friend is in need of help. Though I do not specialize in curses, I can help some. So I will."

"She's… Not my friend," he said slowly. "I actually have no idea who she is. But thank you Ms. Polyursica." He smiled softly.

Ms. Polyursica? She almost chuckled. That was new. She glanced over at the boy who seemed to be lost in thought.

"So who are you anyway?" She asked briskly. "And how did you come to be sleeping in that clearing with a girl you've never met before? Any idea who placed a seal on her?"

"My name is Alan," he said slowly. "The last thing I remember… Is being locked up. In some sort of tube thing." His face scrunched up in concentration. "It's all kind of fuzzy honestly. Maybe she was locked up too?"

"Perhaps," Polyursica stated. That was no help. Well in any case, it looked like she was stuck with humans again for a while.

"_Ah… There goes my privacy"_ She thought with despair as her house came into view.

Why was she so damn nice?

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Well… There's the first chapter. Liked it? Hated it? I'd love to hear your opinion. By the way, Polyursica will not be a main character as this story progresses. Important yes, but not a main character. This will pick up in the next chapter so thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 1: Captured

I do not own Fairy Tail or anything else you might recognize. This is the true first chapter, the last was more like a prologue. I rewrote this to make it flow a bit better. Thank you for reading and I hope you like it!

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

**-Lucy-**

I cannot believe it.

How is this happening?

How is this happening to me_?_

I am a member of Fairy Tail's strongest team so _how the hell_ did I get into this situation?

I sighed as I remembered exactly how.

"Damn Erza," I muttered under my breath.

She and Natsu together made one persuasive team. It had started with me needing rent money… I had been complaining to Mirajane at the bar as usual. My smallest teammate had overheard me so Happy had taken the highest reward mission he could see off the board and handed it to me triumphantly.

* * *

><p>I pat the winged cat on his head as I looked it over.<p>

"_Mages needed"_ I read. _"To investigate the disappearance of young women in the Umi District, specifically Mangrove City. Reward is 900,000 jewels upon successful capture of those responsible plus additional rewards for those rescued."_

"Thanks Happy!" I grinned.

"Aye!" He grinned happily and flew to find his fire breathing partner. That didn't seem too bad… In fact it seemed pretty easy! And that was a big reward too… Even if I had to share it with my teammates. Speaking of which…

"Hey!" Natsu yelled from his position. Which happened to be leaning on my head in his attempt to read the flier while standing behind me. He reminded me of wearing a hooded cloak, it was just as warm even. "A new mission Lucy? Awesome!"

"Get off," I shoved him away playfully. He really had no idea about personal space. He stepped back, grinning widely with his arms crossed behind his head.

I smiled back at him which prompted him to start babbling about something or other. He seemed to be getting over his disappointment with Cana being the only one to advance to being an S-class mage. He was sulking for days when we came back and found out the test was officially over. After we found out master was going to live of course. The old man had really given us a scare. It had taken him weeks under the care of that antisocial old woman to recover.

I still wondered why Grimoire Heart had retreated when they had us right where they wanted us. We had few mages still able to fight by the time Cana had returned as a fully realized S-class mage. As soon as she began to battle with the monster called Bluenote, they had promptly retreated. Disappeared without a trace. It was baffling, but I was thankful no one was permanently hurt… Or worse.

"_Plus I got a new spirit!_" I thought triumphantly. I was getting close to having all twelve spirits of the Zodiac. After obtaining Capricorn, I only needed two more.

Natsu's yelling was drawing attention. Gray and Erza had noticed and walked over to meet us.

"Yo," Gray stated. "New mission?" He asked hopefully. "I'm dying for some action; this place has been way too boring since the whole S-class thing ended."

Not the right thing to say, or at least in one person's mind. Natsu immediately took notice of Gray's unintended insult and slammed his hand on the table.

"What're ya sayin you frozen bastard?" Natsu glared angrily at his rival. "You makin fun of me? You didn't make S-class either!"

He began to drool fire at this point and I buried my face in my hands. Natsu threw a punch at Gray who immediately retaliated with a kick to the face.

"What the fuck are you talking about you hothead?" Gray shouted. "I didn't say anything like that! But now that you mention it, I don't know how you even made it to the island let alone take the test at all! Seasick idiot!" They were fighting with magic now, ice and fire flying through the air hitting innocent bystanders.

I winced as an ice hammer smacked Droy on the head, knocking him out.

"Oh yeah, ice breath?"

"That's right stupid salamander!"

"Perverted stripper!"

"Flame brain!"

"_Their insults keep getting more juvenile."_ I thought with amusement. They must not realize Erza was right across the table yet. Speaking of which…

*Donk*

I winced again at the sound of two skulls colliding. As usual things were getting out of control.

"_But,"_ I thought serenely, watching as Erza lectured the two boys who looked dazed from the collision. _"I wouldn't have Fairy Tail any other way."_ I looked around fondly at the chaos and familiar destruction. I really loved my guild so much.

But I needed rent to keep my apartment. Erza, done lecturing Natsu and Gray came over to sit next to me again. She glanced at the flier.

"Oh, that mission?" She stated. I nodded. "I was going to ask if Team Natsu wanted to tackle that one." She said with a devious grin. "Sound good you two?" She directed at the depressed boys who agreed instantly.

She then looked at me with an almost… evil look on her face. I gulped knowing whatever she was about to say was not going to be good. In fact, I was positive I was not going to like it one bit.

* * *

><p>I sighed at my predicament again, wincing at the cold metal shackles binding my wrists and ankles. I had been exactly right. But how could I have predicted this turn of events?<p>

It was a simple plan. I was to be the decoy, leading the rest of the team to where whoever was kidnapping girls brought them. Happy was holding on to my keys so that whoever caught me wouldn't take them and sell them or some other horrible thing. They had secretly followed me while I walked around where the other girls had mostly disappeared. I would be caught, they would follow, we would ambush and subdue the culprits and everyone went home happy. It was so simple it had seemed foolproof. Which is why I had agreed to it.

But it had gone horribly, terribly wrong. I wished I at least had my keys, if not my friends, to help me now. The one taking the girls wasn't some perverted monster or regular sex crazed guy… No. It was a mage. A mage who could teleport himself and whoever he decided was his next victim. And judging by the number of girls in the room, this was a bigger operation than I first thought. There were at least 20 of us in here, all bound with shackles and some sort of strange rope… It gave me the same vibe as when Milliana bound me with her magic negating rope. Which meant I couldn't even call Loki. Shit.

I again glanced around the room, desperately searching for a way out. There was only one barred window, too high to reach anyway. The entire room was made of concrete reminding me of a jail cell. A large wooden door was the only way in or out of the room. When I was first brought in, I could tell it was heavily padlocked and guarded on the outside. That was a no. Besides, we were all chained to the wall with no way to wiggle free or use magic. No discernable way out.

"Nnn…" The girl next to me groaned. She had a bruise forming on her cheek and it looked pretty painful. She had been there before I was but had been quiet for the most part. Now that I noticed, she was the only one besides myself who wasn't currently crying. The door to the room opened and another girl was brought in.

"My father will execute you all when he finds out where I am!" She screamed. "I will have you all hanged for this! You have no idea who I am do you? Let me out of here this instant!" She nearly howled with rage as she was shackled to the wall like the rest of us.

She continued ranting as the girl next to me squirmed uncomfortably. She looked in pain. Her long, light brown hair obscured her eyes as she grit her teeth. She was rather small I noticed. And… compact too. She looked sturdy to say the least, not fat if not as thin or voluptuous as I am.

"You okay?" I asked quietly as she winced at the girl's howling which was quickly degrading into panicked sobs.

She jumped a little and quickly turned toward me. My eyes widened in surprise. The girl had one of the most interesting eye colors I had ever seen. If I was further away, I would have mistaken it for blue… But this close and I could tell this wasn't the case. They were gray, very intense like storm clouds with flecks of silver like sunlight peeking through the cracks of a rainy day. I would have to use that description for my novel… If I ever got out of here alive.

"Yeah," I heard and I jumped. Of course, being lost in thought isn't good when you're trying to have a conversation. "It's just… That girl is really loud. It hurts my ears…" She tapered off as a fresh wave of wails came from the noisy girl.

"Oh…" I said. I had meant her bruise. And the new girl wasn't _that_ loud. Just annoying. I shrugged it off, needing to talk to keep myself from panicking too much. The dire situation I was in starting to catch up with me.

"So, what's your name?" She asked.

"Lucy Heartfilia. Mage of Fairy Tail," I stated proudly. "What's yours?"

"Kisa," She said. "Just Kisa. Fairy Tail… That's that destructive guild the council doesn't like, right?"

"Yup…" I chuckled. She was smiling though so she didn't seem to think badly of us. "That's an interesting name."

"Yup…" It was her turn to chuckle weakly. "My friend gave it to me. I don't remember my own…" She trailed off looking depressed. "Alan and Polly are probably really worried by now…"

"So are Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Happy…" I murmured. Suddenly becoming concerned, I realized I had no idea where in Fiore I was and had no idea what these strange people wanted. Not to mention no idea how to get out of this mess.

Kisa had the same thoughts as me it seems. As soon as I asked her, she told me she had no idea either.

"But," she said thoughtfully. "I was caught in the Freesia City market center. You?"

"Nowhere near there," I sighed unhappily. No clues then. We hadn't even heard any of the people who brought us here talking.

And it seemed like dawn was beginning to break. I had been there most of the night and these stupid shackles were really starting to chafe. Once again, I wished I had my keys with me… Even just one. Then we could all somehow get out of here and everything would be alright. Without any way to use magic, I felt incredibly vulnerable.

Weak.

Useless.

My eyes began to water as I realized again, just how bad our predicament was. I felt Kisa nudge me. As I looked over, she gave a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry," she stated. "We will absolutely be alright."

"How can you be sure?" I sniffled, suddenly feeling ashamed. She nudged me with her head. Although the gesture was confusing, it was oddly comforting.

"Because," she smiled. "We are mages. And we mages can do anything if we really want to."

I looked at her in disbelief. "We're bound with some sort of magic sealing rope."

"They have to take it off sometime, we can escape then."

"We have no idea where we are."

"We'll find out once we get away."

"We have no idea what they want."

"And they have no idea what we're capable of."

I smiled at that. We had no idea what magic the other possessed.

"We may not all be able to escape."

"I won't leave you behind."

"And I won't leave you."

We grinned at each other again. Her optimism was catchy. And plus, it wasn't like me to mope around for long. I was Lucy Heartfilia, a mage of Fairy Tail! We didn't know the meaning of the word give up!

"Well then, I guess we just became comrades!" I giggled.

She smiled back. "You do find lifelong friends in the oddest places."

"Agreed." Now we just had to find a way out of this mess…

The door slammed open and we all turned to look at the large man who had just walked into the room. His greasy blond hair was plastered to his head and he had a slight under bite. The muscles rippling under his shirt and visible on his biceps were grossly contrasted by his small feet. His beady black eyes looked around at all of us like we were some kind of prize. I bristled. Something about this guy I did not like. His teleporting buddy appeared next to him and smirked at us. That one was bald, thin, and simpering, looking like he spent way too much time in the dark. The top hat he wore was as silly looking as I remembered when he… kidnapped me. They unlocked us from the walls to chain us together in the middle of the room. I decided to see if I could get any information out of these goons.

"Hey!" I yelled. It sounded a lot more confident than I felt. I gulped and tried to fight down a wave of nausea as the two men glared at me. "I think you owe us an explanation! Where the hell are we and what are you going to do with us?" I blurted quickly.

The simpering man in the top hat smiled lopsidedly at me. It was really creepy.

"I think we should tell them sir," He addressed the larger man respectfully. "I always do love seeing despair…" He cackled loudly sending shivers down my spine. I could feel Kisa trembling slightly at my side.

"Why not?" The larger man said. "You, my pretty little ladies, are going on… a cruise."

A cruise? That was absolutely not what he meant. I pried a little further, playing the 'dumb blond' card.

"A cruise? To where?"

The large man's laugh boomed all around the room. His hoots of amusement quickly died down as he looked me straight in the eye.

"Well miss," he leered. "This little ship is sailing to the island nation of Enca."

I could feel the blood draining from my face. Did he truly mean that? Were they really…

"You girls are going to make us a nice paycheck at the slave market. We set sail now."

And I could feel the cool caress of teleportation magic taking to some unknown place, my thoughts focused on Kisa's warm hand tightly grasping my own and the fact that I may be sold into slavery and never see my family in Fairy Tail again.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

So… Like it? Hate it? I'd love to hear an opinion. Thank you again for reading!


	3. Chapter 2: The Voyage

I've caught a few mistakes in the first chapters and revised them accordingly. Thank you Sweet-Angel of Love for my first review! I really appreciate it, I also don't like how 'wimpy' Lucy is often portrayed. I do not own Fairy Tail or anything really. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! Again, I rewrote this to improve it a bit.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

I rolled on my side to face Lucy. We were both exhausted… She had panda-like dark circles under her eyes that would be laughable in another situation. But the hard wooden floor we were laying on was uncomfortable enough to prevent sleep from overtaking us. Plus the rocking of the ship was slowly lulling me into a state of seasickness. If I had food in my stomach, I would have felt very nauseous by now.

"_Speak of the devil,"_ I thought. A woman appeared at the door holding a tray, stacked high with loaves of bread. As she began distributing them to the girls who were slowly pulling themselves into a sitting position, a man began handing out cups of water. The blonde man with small feet stood in the doorway, leering at us. He seemed to enjoy how some of the girls cowered in his presence. He left us alone however, leaving with the other two once everything was distributed. Guess they had to keep their '_merchandise'_ in good condition.

I scowled. How could they even think something like this was okay? Lucy seemed as shocked as I was at the information this morning. We both stiffly sat up and grabbed our bread, not having eaten since our capture. I nibbled slowly, hunger overcoming nausea for now. I glanced at Lucy who was not eating, but looking at the bread with a disgusted expression.

"No use not eating," I swallowed before continuing. "We need to be able to escape if the opportunity arises."

She winced, looking irritated. "I know…" She said slowly, finally taking a bite. "It's just… this is so unreal."

"I know," I looked at my shackled feet. "But we will absolutely escape." That glimmer of hope was looking more and more feeble every passing hour. Once we were teleported out of that room, we had been led below the deck of a ship along with fifty or so other girls. After being restrained, they had mostly left us alone and the ship had set sail. That was hours ago now… We must be far out to sea. And far away from any chance of rescue. That meant it was completely up to us to escape the terrible fate that awaited us in Enca.

"_Can't think about that,"_ I shook my head, trying to clear it of the horrible images. We absolutely must escape.

"So Lucy," I started, needing a distraction. "What's it like? Being in a guild I mean."

I was glad I asked. Her eyes immediately lit up and she brightly began talking about her life in Fairy Tail. Her friends, the chaos of the guild, the thrill of going on missions with Natsu and Happy… She seemed to love everything about her life. Before this of course.

"But you know…" She started sadly. "It's not always fun. There have been rough times too."

We spent the following days in much the same manner. Lucy would tell me about her life and I would share what I knew of mine. She talked about when she was kidnapped before by the guild Phantom Lord, I in turn told her how I was found by Polly with few memories and a strong seal to boot.

Lucy recounted her adventures and I listened with envy. Her very first true assignment, not the impromptu one with Macao and the Vulcan, had left me giggling. How Happy and Natsu had pretended to be ninjas and leveled a mansion to the ground. I soon learned enough about her friends that I was sure I'd recognize them if I ever walked into Lucy's guild.

She had also listened about how I lived with Polly and Alan after waking up. Living in a tree house was so refreshing for lack of a better word. I loved watching the birds and insects buzzing around the house as we washed laundry or ate lunch. Picking weeds from Polyursica's garden was also a surprisingly interesting adventure. Lucy laughed for minutes straight when I told her how a plant had bitten Alan and screamed at him when he tried to pull it up. He had cursed more than I thought possible for the polite man. The memory still brought a smile to my face.

"I still can't believe that crabby old woman let's you call her _Polly!_" Lucy had snickered when I told her about my life. She seemed interested how we had been found but had no opinions on how we had gotten there.

That made the both of us. She also had never heard of seals like the one I had.

Speaking of which… I faced Lucy again and inhaled the salt tinged air as she slept. "_I knew it…" _She had a seal too. She smelled very similar to me in that manner. Though her seal was different… Mine was malevolent, a blight. Her's was tinged was warmth and sadness. Regret even. I knew even Polly would have a hard time detecting it as it was so ingrained in Lucy's essence, it almost felt a part of her. Not quite, but almost.

I thought back to when I had first woken up…

* * *

><p>My eyelids felt so heavy. I could detect the soft support of a mattress under me, a scent of pine all around, and a warm presence next to me.<p>

"Out of the way, boy!" A woman's voice barked out. The warm presence withdrew, and cool hands were placed on my forehead. A strange tingling sensation filled my body and settled in my stomach, turning into a sharp prick there. I winced and again attempted to open my eyes.

"Ms. Polyursica!" A man's voice broke out excitedly. I blinked slowly and saw warm brown eyes appear above mine. They were pretty… A strange red tint present in the pools of chocolate that made the eyes seem scarlet when he turned to look at something. I heard him say something so I opened my own mouth to try and speak.

It failed miserably when the murmur dissolved into a yawn. The eyes turned back towards me, brown again and tinted with amusement.

"Yeah, I was tired too when I woke up," He said grinning.

"Hmph!" I turned to look at the source of the other voice. An old woman stood with her arms crossed, looking extremely out of her element. Her eyes were truly crimson, unlike the man next to me, narrow and piercing. Her pink hair was tied in a severe bun and her clothes were decorated with crescent moons.

I tried to sit up, but was held down by the boy.

"What's your name?" He asked politely, taking his hand off my shoulder. "I'm Alan. Nice to meet you."

"I-" I frowned. I realized I didn't know. I tried to remember… All I could bring up were distorted images of people I know I somehow knew. My father… Brother maybe? And that was a friend… This was weird. It wasn't as if I didn't remember at all… It was more like… It had been so long that my memories had faded. And try as I might, I couldn't get them to come into focus.

I said so out loud and Alan looked at me, befuddled but with a kindly look. Polyursica, _"my, that was a long name!"_ simply walked over and took my pulse.

"Well, I can't keep calling 'you' when I want to address you," The old woman stated simply. "There are two of you anyway. Boy, you think of something to call her." She moved on to test my reflexes.

He, no… Alan blushed and started sputtering, "I-I'm not very good with names! That is… That is to say… You don't want me to decide. Really!" I giggled a little at his flustered expression. He looked like a tomato.

"Since you protest so much, I assume you already have one in mind?" The old woman drawled while checking my eyes.

His eyes widened even more and started stuttering unintelligibly. I was curious now, did he really?

He broke off his ramble, shuffled his feet a little before looking up.

"… Kisa," He mumbled.

It clicked. I smiled. It felt… right. I quite liked it actually.

"Is that okay?" I asked. "I like it a lot. Thank you." I smiled again as he blushed further.

"No problem…" He trailed off as Polyursica cleared her throat. We both looked at her as she stared pointedly at my stomach. I curled my arms in front of me, feeling slightly self conscious.

"Where are we anyway?" I asked, trying to draw the old woman's gaze.

"My house," she stated tersely. "I found you two asleep outside and you have something wrong with you. So I allowed you to come and seek treatment."

"Something… Wrong?" I reiterated. Alan was frowning, looking at the old woman. "What do you mean? I feel fine."

"You have a seal placed on you." She poked my stomach a few inches above my navel. "It's very powerful. It's leeching off your magic, leaving you with almost none. I've honestly never seen anything quite like it…" She trailed off.

"Magic?" Alan and I questioned simultaneously, disbelief evident in our voices. Polyursica's eyebrows rose in astonishment.

"Yes, magic. Both of you are mages." She stated finally.

Alan and I shared a bemused look. No way. This lady may have been a bit more senile than she seemed.

She grumbled something about the stupidity of humans before snapping her fingers. The two of us gasped as water leapt out of a jar of flowers, divided into two, and swiftly splashed us in the face.

"Again, yes. Magic," She stated with a tint of amusement as we sputtered and coughed.

"Now, I can help you. My specialty is healing, not seals. It may take a while for me to find a way to remove it, but I can. You can stay, as long as you do everything I ask and leave as soon as you're better. Got it?" She glared at us.

I looked at Alan and he looked at me. We both seemed to reach the same conclusion as we nodded in agreement.

"Good," She turned and walked toward the door. "Now, I want you two to weed my herb garden. After that, laundry and then dinner. I need to research something. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," I heard Alan say. I grinned, happy I wasn't alone.

"Yes Polly," I chuckled softly as she sputtered with embarrassment and stomped off toward another tree house.

* * *

><p>I grinned at the memory but it quickly faded to a frown. If only I hadn't insisted on going to the market by myself… Alan had wanted to accompany me. I could have avoided this entire fiasco had I not been stubborn, maintaining I wanted to pick up the herbs for Polly alone. I could tell in the month or two we had stayed, she was slightly warming up to us and didn't mind the company. In fact, she seemed to be almost glad when we returned from an errand for her. The stubborn old woman would never admit it though. I once again wished this had never happened.<p>

But then I wouldn't have met Lucy. I could never have regretted befriending the young mage. We were fast friends, even with different circumstances we would have gotten along well. The fact that we shared our predicament only reinforced the bond. She stirred next to me as the noises above from the deck increased in volume and activity.

"Wasshappened?" She questioned sleepily, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"I don't know…" I said softly. It had never sounded this lively in all the days we had been trapped here. I sat up in shock as a thought crossed my mind, too terrified to put it into words. Lucy seemed to have reached the same conclusion as she bolted upright, panting a little in terror.

"… We're here, aren't we?" She gasped. I could only give a quick nod as the door to the room burst open and the greasy blond muscle man stooped in. I had learned to hate the cruel man. I hated the looks he gave us, I hated his mocking voice, his muscled biceps and torso disgusted me, I even hated his ridiculously small feet. He glared menacingly around at all of us before barking orders to other crew members.

The man leered over us as we were forced to get up stiffly and walk into the sunlight for the first time in days. I inhaled sharply, enjoying the smell of the sea breeze and the feel of sunlight on my skin. The fresh air was a welcome change; the room we were confined in was stagnant, smelling strongly of sweat and people confined in too close of quarters. Lucy seemed to be serenely absorbing the sun and sea as I was before we were sharply shoved. We were maneuvered toward the pier our prison was docked to and I wanted to scream. This was too much… too much to handle. No one could be this cruel could they?

The blond muscleman sneered as many of the girls started to sob. "Time to bring the little piggies to market." He nearly rolled with laughter.

Oh yes. People could unfortunately be this cruel.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

I'm pretty productive on the weekends so expect most updates to happen then. Thank you for reading and please review if you liked it or not!


	4. Chapter 3: Escape

I have a quick question for those who may be interested. Do you prefer shorter or longer chapters? I was thinking and I noticed all of my chapters up until now have been relatively short. I decided to try to make this one longer though it didn't seem to work out like that. Which do you prefer reading? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and I do not own Fairy Tail.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

My throat was dry as I looked around the strange town center. The air was thick with the smell of refuse. We were ushered into a plaza of sorts, with a large platform in the middle. Stalls surrounded us, selling colorful cloth and fruits with a sickly sweet aroma. The marketplace was completely packed with people jabbering in a language I didn't recognize. The sheer multitude of people looking this way made me dizzy. Most wore curious expressions. A few sympathetic. Some eager.

Kisa shuddered next to me and I looked at her in concern. She was looking at the blond man with extreme dislike as he barked orders among his crew. Another man walked over to grab his attention and they started speaking quickly in a foreign language, glancing every now and then toward our group of captives. They began drawing girls to them one by one, holding a circular device in front of them before shoving them into one of two groups. I couldn't wrap my mind around the strangeness of it all.

Then, suddenly, it was my turn. The device resembled a compass but with three needles swaying randomly around the central point. As soon as it was held toward me, the needles converged on me like a magnet and I was pulled into the smaller of the groups.

"_They're testing for magic," _I thought with a jolt. The next girl was placed in the large group when the needles did not respond to her at all. I bristled in anger. _"A higher sell price for those who were mages."_ I thought bitterly as Kisa was pulled up to the device next.

She had an uncharacteristically blank expression as she drew closer, though I could sense she was concentrating immensely on something. Curiously, the needles twitched a bit before slowly turning randomly around again. My jaw dropped.

"_She said she was a mage!" _I thought incredulously. And she had, right? I had not made up that fact, had I?

Tears clouded my vision as she was quickly led away from me. We weren't going to be separated were we? I hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye! Or that I was sorry! Or even-

They had removed the rope that bound her. The rope that still bound myself and the other three mage girls, sealing our ability to use magic. If only I didn't have that damn rope, maybe I could do something!

As I thought this, Kisa let out a scream of pure anguish. She convulsed on the ground, clawing at the filthy earth as her captors stood dumbfounded. I tried to stumble over to help her but was blocked by guards. I looked in horror as she seized up as if possessed- then abruptly vanished.

Or so I thought.

"Hold on to me!" I heard her gasp loudly, her voice coming from straight in front of me. Without thinking, I flung my still bound hands around her neck. As the slavers turned to see where Kisa had ran to, a magic circle obstructed my vision.

I gasped. "A… magic circle?" It covered Kisa's shoulders and back and looked strangely familiar… Almost like… Happy?

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, wings sprouted from Kisa's back and we were propelled into the air with a huge strain of white wings.

I was unable to keep myself from screaming as Kisa heaved her new massive wings to keep us in the air. She hovered briefly over the market, astonished stares following our every move and furious cursing reminding me of why we should run. Now. I looked at her to remind her to move when I noticed the wistful look she was giving the remaining girls, about to be sold into slavery for the rest of their lives.

My mouth went dry at the thought. Suddenly feeling guilty, I knew Kisa couldn't handle much more. Weight or emotional baggage.

"C'mon Kisa," I knew I was going to sound cruel but we needed to move if we were going to escape at all. "There's nothing we can do for them. We don't have the power or means to rescue them as we are now."

Both of us freely crying now, she nodded slowly and turned toward a forbidding looking forest several miles down the coast.

We landed a good distance into the thickest part of the trees, Kisa panting heavily from exertion and my wrists bleeding from the bindings that continued to block my use of magic. Hanging by my arms on to Kisa while flying had caused the magical rope to cut and chafe my wrists terribly. Her wings now gone, Kisa crawled toward me and began to work on freeing my hands again.

"That was a good bit of acting," I stated, referring to the staged spasm she had used as a distraction in the market. She nodded, still panting too much to say anything. When my wrists were finally free, Kisa flopped on her back to catch her breath and I sighed in relief.

Power. I felt the familiar warm tingling of magic flow through my body for the first time in days. I grinned as I rubbed my poor wrists, already feeling almost jubilant at the sense of comfort. I tried to call Loki but felt no connection to him at all.

I sighed. I was afraid of this. The physical manifestations of my contracted spirits, the stellar spirit keys, were simply too far away from me. I could call them without touching my keys, yes, but this was different. We were currently an entire ocean away with countries between Kisa and I and home.

"_Home," _I thought longingly. I missed my friends… I missed Levy and Cana and Juvia. I missed my teammates, even the stupid cat, and my stellar spirits. I even missed the real oddballs like Gajeel! How were we going to get back?

Kisa had finally stopped gasping for breath so I looked at her with concern. It was obvious she wouldn't be able to fly us back; she was exhausted after only a few miles! But I was so grateful we had managed to escape… Even with the knowledge that we had essentially abandoned the other girls. I winced. And speaking of which…

"Hey Kisa?" I asked with some trepidation.

"Hm?" She responded stoically.

"How… How did you not tip them off that you were a mage?" I decided to ask. "And you know it's not our fault we couldn't save the others, right?"

She ignored my second question. My first clue to the inner torment she was experiencing for leaving the others. Then she said, "Do you remember the seal I told you about? The one Polly found in my stomach?"

I nodded. It was hard to forget really.

"Well…" She began, fidgeting. "She never… actually… took it off."

My eyebrows rose. "Really?" I asked incredulously. The great Polyursica had failed at something like that? I hadn't thought that possible. Well… I hadn't thought there was someone who could call the bad-tempered old woman 'Polly' and live to tell others but still…

"Yeah…" She continued. "So I just… Took advantage of it. I tried to conceal as much magic as I could and hoped the seal would conceal the rest. Luckily, it worked." She sighed before continuing. "But you know…"

"Yes?" I questioned. She looked extraordinarily hesitant about something. She looked pointedly at the ground.

"You have a seal too," She blurted.

"…" My mind went blank. A seal? Me? Not possible. I had been using magic since mama died. How could I have a seal? I had always thought of myself as pretty powerful. Maybe not as powerful as Natsu, Erza, and the like but certainly powerful enough!

"You're joking…" I trailed off as I realized by the look on her face, the young woman was completely serious. "How?" I asked weakly. These last couple weeks were really starting to shock my system.

She shook her head slowly, dirty hair swaying slightly with the motion. I scrunched up my nose. We both really needed a bath… I would pay a lot of jewels for a nice hot bath right now. My thoughts were cut short with a sharp snap of a twig breaking. We both whirled in response, barely catching a glimpse of a small furry creature running off at the sight of the two humans.

We both sighed in relief.

"I don't know…" She began as I tried to get my heartbeat under control. "But we need to get rid of them as soon as possible." She frowned. "We are obviously outsiders and don't even speak the language. And… They may pursue us." She shuddered.

That was exactly what I feared the most. We had managed to escape once, but what would happen if we were caught again? "No!" I yelled, startling Kisa. "We will not be caught ever again!" I would do whatever it took to ensure that.

She smiled at that. "But we need to be strong enough to fight them off. And for that, we need to do something about these seals…" Then, furrowing her brows in concentration, she fell silent.

After what seemed like hours, I mustered the courage to ask, "So, how do you think we can do that?"

She winced again, looking at me with trepidation. "Well…" she began. "Polly did tell me of a way. But it's dangerous to both people involved so she wanted to leave it as a last resort."

I closed my eyes in determination. "We'll do it." No matter what it takes, we will get back home I thought with resolve.

She described the process and I grew more and more anxious with each passing second. But we had to. And besides… We had gone through so much together. I realized, we had complete trust in each other and that was comforting.

"We will absolutely be alright," I said sounding resolute, if not completely confident.

She gave a small grin. "Yes," she echoed. "We will definitely be alright."

We moved to sit cross legged directly in front of each other. I took a deep breath.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Only if you are," Kisa responded timidly.

"Right," I confirmed, maneuvering my hand to her stomach as I felt her do the same. Inches above her navel, I could feel a pulsing energy. It was utterly dead feeling and foreboding yet vaguely familiar. I shuddered as I touched where I knew the seal lay in her body and she mimicked the action. We began pouring our own magical energy into the area, focusing on pushing out the foreign mass in each other's torso.

Sweat beaded from my face as pain erupted through my belly, distracting me momentarily before I brought myself back into focus. _"No,"_ I thought, knowing if we messed up we would both lose our lives. I continued to gently coax the sphere of dark energy to unwind from the tendrils of muscle, ignore the organs it touched, and be expelled from Kisa's body.

Kisa let out a whimper of pain and I groaned as we both could feel the seals being pulled from our guts, finally starting to emerge.

"_Almost done,"_ I thought desperately as I continued to pull. I had never used my magic for anything as invasive or physical as this. The pain… The pain was overwhelming. The only thing anchoring my concentration was the life of my friend in my hands… Literally.

With an almighty growl, Kisa gave one final tug as I did the same. We lay side by side, panting and sweating under the setting sun. It had been hours since we started and I was exhausted.

"You feeling okay?" Kisa questioned, holding out an orange stone for me to take. I noticed the black stone I held in mine and realized these were the seals.

"They look so tiny…" I whispered as we exchanged the small, eyeball sized stones. I only had a moment to admire the shiny, tangerine surface before it burst into dust.

"What the hell!" Kisa exclaimed and I saw hers had done the same. Though while her stone simply dissipated in the wind, the stone I held was slowly forming a deep, forest green haze in front of me. As I stared, astonished, a voice began to take form, nearly scaring me out of my wits.

"Really Layla," The smooth male voice purred. Layla? Mama? I didn't think I could be any more shocked and confused as it continued. "I truly do not think this is necessary. Lucy will be fine… With a stellar spirit mage as talented as you, she will no doubt-"

Kisa yelped a little as the green mist dissipated revealing one of the strangest creatures I had ever seen. It had dark, thick fur covering its entire body, colored black with the smallest tinge of indigo. It stood on two legs that tapered into large, clawed paws. A tail wagged behind the creature and its arms were crossed over a thickly furred chest as it regarded us with surprise. Large pointed ears sat on the top of the creature's head and were pierced with numerous silver earrings. The face had the muzzle of a bear or dog maybe and luminous dark green eyes that regarded us with suspicion.

I gulped a little before asking,"What about mama? You knew her?"

He hissed in surprise. "Knew her? Mama? Then…" He trailed off looking forlorn. "She's gone? And you're Lucy?"

I nodded, still trying to wrap my mind around the strange creature.

"Layla…" He whispered, looking anguished. I stepped toward him in concern which snapped him out of his reverie. "Well!" He quipped cheerfully. "Nice to meet you! My name is-"

"Bjorn," I interrupted. Realizing what I had done, I clamped a hand over my mouth while wondering how I knew that to be true.

"Correct," He stated, looking amused. The feral looking beast flashed a fanged grin before continuing. "My full title is Bjorn The Beast King. I've been with Lucy since she was born."

"So… that stone wasn't a seal?" Kisa asked bewildered.

"No no no, that was most certainly a seal. One bestowed on Lucy by her mother Layla Heartfilia," Bjorn stated proudly. My mind reeled.

"Mama? She… placed a seal on me?" I stuttered.

"Yes, she used my key as a base and sealed most of your magical ability. It was the only way to keep you safe at the time according to your mother. I hadn't agreed so she had completed it when I was having a conversation with her," The newly revealed spirit recounted tartly. "That woman… Always doing exactly what she wanted."

"But… why?" I asked desperately. I needed answers!

"That I do not know love," Bjorn stated gently. He purred slowly and caught me as I suddenly fell forward. I hadn't realized how exhausted I felt… I couldn't stay standing so the spirit set me down next to Kisa who looked as tired as I was.

"Rest," the beast king purred. As I felt my eyes droop heavily, I heard him speak a little more. "You need your strength. Both to get back home… and to find the rest of the eight sanctum spirit keys."

I couldn't fight any longer and drifted off to sleep.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Hehehe…. Yeah. Hope you like the new addition. It'll make sense eventually of course. By the way, Bjorn is pronounced byorn and it's Norwegian for bear if I am not totally clueless. Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken. Thank you for reading again!


	5. Chapter 4: The Beast King and the Beast

Thank you so much for reviewing Footster26 and Marina Rose! I really appreciate it, you guys really made my day. As an answer to your question Footster26, Natsu comes in later in the story along with the rest of the Fairy Tail characters. I hope to make this a longer story... But we'll see! And thank you for your thoughts Marina Rose, I have made this chapter longer than the other by a lot. We'll see how it works and I have also tried using different pov's this time rather than switching every chapter. I already mentioned this, but most of my updates will be during the weekend. I'm sorry for the delay but I hope you enjoy. As usual, I do not own anything. Speaking of which, I have included a creature from another anime. I will disclaim this at the end, as I do not want to spoil anything. Thank you for reading!

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

**-Lucy-**

I could tell I was waking up, but I couldn't even muster the strength to lift an eyelid. The chirping of birds, the smell of earth, the tickle of a bug crawling on my leg; I was able to gather my senses to recognize these things but movement escaped me. It was as though I was even more exhausted than when I fell asleep. The noise that woke me drew my attention as I struggled to stay conscious.

"She seems so tired…" I heard a female voice whisper in concern. It was Kisa. "Why? I feel much better after sleeping so much…"

"_Who is she talking to?"_ I thought hazily, trying to gather my thoughts. _"Why aren't we on a boat and why can't I hear the loud girl crying as usual? Where could-"_

I remembered; the shock enough to wake me out of my smothering cloud of exhaustion.

"_We escaped!"_ I thought gleefully as I managed to open my eyes. My vision swam as I tried to focus on Kisa and a black shape next to her.

"Bjorn?" I croaked. That's right. Now I remembered everything. Mama's seal inside me had turned into a new stellar spirit… One I had never heard of before.

Their heads snapped to look at me and I could see the relief visible on Kisa's face.

"How are you feeling?" She asked worriedly. I could suddenly tell how late in the afternoon it was. The sun beat down on us from the tree tops making the air hot and humid.

"How long have I been asleep?" I managed to say. Why was I so damn tired?

"Since last night," She stated with concern. "You weren't waking up…"

"And I know why," The beast spirit interrupted dryly. "You, Miss Lucy, are weak." He picked a spot of filth from under his nail before continuing. "You are simply not used to having spirits out. Powerful spirits that is. And not used to having them feed entirely from your own power instead of using a bit of their own as a supplement. Now that I have been summoned entirely with your own power, you have not been able to efficiently keep up with the amount of magic my presence in the human world demands."

My jaw would have dropped in astonishment had I still maintained enough control over my facial muscles.

"But… but…" I stuttered. "I thought that's what a contract _is._ The mage and the stellar spirit have an agreement to-"

He waved away my confused babble. "That's what most stellar spirit mages think a contract is. A true contract is much more… involved." He gave stern stare as he continued. "A true contract with a spirit means that the spirit is completely bound to the contractor. No other masters, no scheduling, just calling when needed. And all magic power is provided to the spirit by the mage. This makes for some… interesting side effects."

"Like what?" Kisa asked suspiciously.

"Unlike a partial contract, in which the stellar spirit controls all physical manifestations of the summoning and spells, a true contract allows the mage to absorb some properties from the spirit called. A secondary ability if you will."

I had finally managed to prop myself up on my elbows and stared thoughtfully at Bjorn. "So… as an example, if I summoned Aquarius I would be able to control water?"

He grinned slightly, showing of a pearly white fang. "It's possible, you must verify it yourself before I say definitely, but that is the right idea. A spirit must completely trust the stellar spirit mage in order for this type of contract to work of course. And the amount of power required to support this kind of bond is extraordinarily more than for the average partial summoning… Many mages are simply not capable, which is why there have been no significant true contracts in a very long time."

I noticed his ear flick irritably. He looked slightly… uncomfortable, now looking restlessly around the clearing.

"There's something else, isn't there?" I stated quietly.

The beast king flinched and scratched his shoulder nervously. "Ah… well… Yes, to put it simply." He sat down and began to pluck petals off a small, honey colored flower. He continued to tear and mash the stem into a green pulp as he continued, refusing to look at me. "The bond between stellar spirit mage and stellar spirit is absolute. Both ways." My eyes widened in realization as Kisa gasped. "That means the connection shared causes both to feel the same pain. The spirit is injured, you are injured as well. The spirit dies, so do you."

The silence was palpable. Even the birds had been lulled into a quiet uneasiness. I closed my eyes to think.

"_I love my spirits, do I love them enough to die for them?"_ I asked myself. I grinned as the answer came immediately. _"Of course."_ They were my friends, as much companions as my Fairy Tail family. I would do anything for them, and I knew they would do anything for me. Well, most of them anyway.

"Now the question is…" Bjorn began. "How to relinquish your contracts if you want out. Now that your seal has been broken, your ability to call upon spirits with true contracts has been awakened. Since dying obviously would suck and no one in their right mind would want to… I'm assuming you do not want-"

"Of course I want to keep my spirits," I declared with pride. I had to interrupt him before the poor beast looked any more depressed. "I don't know how I would live without my friends and I can handle a little pain and danger to stay by their sides."

The spirit looked up thoughtfully. "Are you sure?" He questioned, looking directly into my eyes and stalking towards me. "You could die you know. Think about it."

I did. And no matter how much it scared me, I was confident I could keep myself and my spirits out of harm's way.

He smiled the widest grin I had ever seen as he saw my determination. A deep growling purr rumbled from his chest as he bent down to hug me in a warm, fluffy embrace.

"Lucy… You are one of a kind," He whispered as my face burned in embarrassment.

"Most people would do the same for their friends…" I trailed off.

He leaned back balancing on his haunches. "Well then, would you do the honor of formally becoming my master?"

"Of course," I beamed at him. "But you're my friend now, not my servant. Remember that."

His dark green eyes sparkled as he gently handed me a key. Almost entirely pure snowy white, it had an intricate forest green symbol in the shape of a twisted tree on the handle.

"Beautiful…" I whispered. "I've never seen a key like this…"

"Of course not!" My newest spirit puffed his chest out proudly. "I am one of the eight sanctum stellar spirits, the most powerful spirits in the stellar spirit kingdom!" His tail swished along the ground like a dog excited at its master's return.

"Sanctum stellar spirits?" I asked, confused. "I've never heard of them before."

"You wouldn't have…" The beast mumbled sadly. "We've been… Difficult to find to say the least. Most of us have not had contact with humans in centuries."

"Then how did you come to be with Lucy?" Kisa asked, nose scrunched up in concentration. "You had said you were with Lucy since she was born, right?"

He turned towards her in acknowledgement. "I think I will save that for another time." He winked as she rolled her eyes, obviously exasperated. He walked over to her and stood next to her, two heads taller than the shorter girl. She was not intimidated and he seemed amused by the fact. "Don't worry, it's just that I think there are more pressing matters to attend to now. All in good time."

"Hm…" She hummed, placated.

"Like what?" I questioned.

"Like getting home," Kisa replied. She looked at her feet. "I kinda miss my friends… And I'm sure you do too."

I nodded. I missed everyone so much it hurt. But at least we had a chance now to see everyone again.

And that led me again to remember how we had escaped.

"So Kisa…" I started, unsure of how to ask the question I was so curious about. "Are you an Exsheed by any chance?"

"A what?" She asked, obviously having no idea what I was talking about. I tried again. After all, Happy and Charle had not known what they were until we traveled to Edolas.

"An Exsheed. It's a… Well it's a cat like being," I tried, feeling more foolish. Kisa was obviously a human yet here I was accusing her of being a cat! "They talk and walk like humans… But can use a spell, Aera it's called… to grow wings and fly…"

She looked at me oddly. "Can they turn into humans?" She questioned softly.

"Well… not that I know of," I answered truthfully. "It's just that the magic circle I saw when you grew wings was very similar to what my friends use… And they're Exsheed…"

"Oh, well I'm pretty sure I'm not then..." She still looked uncomfortable, as if she were hiding something. But she truly didn't seem to think she was what I had described; I could see the honesty of that in her expression. But she still looked nervous.

I wondered what type of magic she used. She looked as if I had touched upon an uncomfortable subject… Bjorn seemed to notice as well as he quickly changed the subject.

"Well for now, we need to focus on surviving and keeping away from the bad men Kisa told me about while you slept," Bjorn stated airily. "And in the meantime, probably train you to increase your magic threshold and efficiency."

"Threshold and efficiency?" I couldn't help asking.

"Again, a topic for later. I sense you two are hungry?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, I realized I was ravenous. I looked at Kisa who clutched her belly and giggled nervously.

"I can try and look for something edible…" She grumbled as she began walking into the thicker part of the forest.

"Don't go too far! And meet us back at this clearing when you're done!" Bjorn called after her. As she grunted in affirmation, I could tell the beast king was fond of my friend by the small grin on his furry face. I smiled and attempted to push myself to my feet. I was still shaky and drained of energy, but I managed to stand on my own.

"We can look for some too," I told him. "And maybe some water?"

"I can smell water a short distance from here. Shall we?" He grinned toothily and offered his arm like a gentleman.

"Yes," I agreed as I took his arm.

**-Kisa-**

I trudged among the low brush littering the forest floor, looking for anything edible. The last day had been eventful to say the least. I quite liked Lucy's new spirit. Bjorn and I had talked for a little before Lucy had woken up. He was a cheerful fellow overall and I was glad to have him with us. Especially when he tactfully changed the subject… Lucy had truly surprised me with her question earlier.

"_How did she guess?"_ I thought to myself. Although I definitely was not an Exsheed as she had thought, there was no denying I had feline qualities to my magic. I had actually managed to transform myself into a small domestic cat multiple times before our imprisonment by the slavers. It was one of the few things I could do with my magic.

I passed up bright orange mushrooms and came to a berry laden shrub. Birds were plucking the small, red fruit from the small branches so I assumed they were safe to eat. I kneeled to the bush and began pulling the plump berries and collecting them in a makeshift pouch out of the front of my filthy shirt. The bright crimson color reminded me of Polly… And she in turn reminded me of a certain familiar face…

"Alan…" I sighed wistfully. I missed him more than I thought possible. The thought of never seeing him again was unbearable. But Lucy said that the nation we were trapped in, Enca, was an island. This meant we were going to need to swim, find a boat, or fly to get back to Fiore. And my magic was never sufficient enough to fly that far… In fact, the two times I had tried before yesterday were disastrous. The first ended up with me almost depleted of magic, the second in a dislocated shoulder and concussion. Even yesterday's escape had left me drained and exhausted though I had only drawn out wings for no more than a few minutes.

I scowled. _"Why am I so useless?"_ I knew Alan would disagree, as would Lucy for that matter, but I was slightly… Jealous. Jealous of their power and their ability to use magic for more than minutes at a time. Alan's magic truly amazed me… And though Polly said mine was similar, it seemed I could never compare to what he could do. But he would never gloat over the fact, always encouraging me to try again when I felt disheartened at a latest attempt. It was one of his amazing qualities that made me like him so much…

I shook my head as a few salty tears leaked out. Had to stop thinking. Besides, now that we had managed to remove the seals, Lucy and I had a chance.

I smacked my head on a low lying branch as I jumped up from the bush.

"_My seal!" _I thought excitedly. Of course with that gone, maybe I could use more magic than I was able to before! I turned to go back to the clearing, berries tucked safely in the front of my shirt. I had to test it.

I closed my eyes, drawing from the familiar source of magic. I smiled as I realized it was brighter and clearer than before. "_Much more intense," _I thought, satisfied my hunch was correct. I drew out the spell to make me fly… To make me soar among the clouds and feel the gust of wind on my face…

And I abruptly knew something was wrong. I gasped as my hands and fingers went completely numb. It was although they had disappeared entirely and left me helpless as berries fell from my shirt to roll along the earth. The red berries contrasted against the green and brown ground for a second before my vision went black as well. My entire body erupted in what felt like goose bumps and a rushing, roaring noise filled my ears. I could no longer stand up straight, my back bent at a strange angle. Oh how I wanted it to stop as I tried to cut off the flow of magic and how I wished for it to stop-

And as suddenly as it happened, it faded away. A cool breeze caressed my cheek as I steadied myself.

I was panting for breath, unaware of what the hell had just happened. I was almost near tears again, utterly shocked at the strangeness of the sensations that had just filled my body. I shakily took stock of my surroundings as I tried to figure out what had happened. Then, I caught glimpse of the silhouette outlined on the ground.

I howled in disbelief and panic, racing away from the monstrous shadow towering from behind me, back toward Lucy and Bjorn.

**-Lucy-**

Bjorn and I neared the clearing we had spent the night in, carrying makeshift bowls of water made from large leaves. I giggled at his dismay at poking a claw through one of the bowls, water spilling out as he frowned. He opened his mouth to retort before a deafening roar ripped through the air causing both of us to drop our water in shock. We looked at each other in wonder before I realized it had come from the direction of the clearing.

"Oh no, Kisa!" I screamed, stumbling in the direction of the deep growling as I tried not to think of what may have gotten to her.

"Kisa!" Bjorn bellowed as he leapt in front of me, disappearing as I attempted to run in my weakened state.

I urged him on in my mind, hoping whatever it was hadn't hurt her. I came upon the clearing and was puzzled to see Bjorn stopped, staring at whatever scene was taking place.

As I peered around a tree, I was stunned at the majestic animal I saw snuffling around the grassy area. The creature's head was that of an enormous wolf, snowy white with two long feathered tendrils sprouting behind the perked ears and trailing behind it. The tendrils were amethyst, tinged with turquoise and fell almost to the ground. The body was that of a massive bird, white feathers dusted with silver fluttering in the wind as the creature moved. A lengthy tail, similar to the tendrils from its head trailed behind it and was violet, with traces of rosy pink and pale blue-green. Muscular legs ending in clawed paws resembling Bjorn's supported the huge beast's weight. I marveled at both the beauty of the strange animal and the size. It was as tall as some of the trees and its eyes looked bigger than my hand!

I gulped nervously as the creature sniffed the ground, mewling anxiously. It was pitiful almost, the sounds made it seem as though the creature was crying for its baby. A small breeze wafted towards us from the clearing and I saw Bjorn stiffen from the corner of my eye. Then he walked purposefully out from where we hid toward the massive animal.

I gasped and stumbled after him, nervously waiting for the wolf-bird to take notice. As soon as it saw us, the giant jumped and uttered a series of short, barking grunts. They had a musical quality to them I couldn't quite place, almost like that of a harp. The calls became more frequent and desperate as we stood, watching the creature flap its wings anxiously in turn buffeting us with wind.

"Lucy," I heard Bjorn utter, but I couldn't take my eyes off the increasingly agitated being in front of us. "Remember how I told you about secondary abilities?"

"Yeah…" I whispered, still not averting my eyes.

"Time to use one," He chuckled. I turned to look at him this time. I did not want to hurt the striking animal if we could help it. Upon seeing my worried look, he laughed loudly.

"Oh, no. We aren't going to harm her," He clarified. It was getting harder to hear him over the increasingly frenzied noises of the creature in front of us who had flopped to the ground. It continued to whine as it lay on the ground, head resting in the grass while staring at us. "Just use your magic while focusing on me, that should do the trick."

I looked at him dubiously, but followed his instructions. Focusing on Bjorn, I drew up what little power I had managed to accumulate in the past hour.

"There, now what do you-"

"**They can't understand me! What am I going to do? I can't change back? How can I tell them it's me? What's going on? I don't understand!" **A panicky voice filled my thoughts. What?

"My secondary ability allows you to speak to and understand beasts," Bjorn stated after taking in my shocked expression. He turned back toward the creature which had seemed to calm down slightly. A single tear rolled from the large, shining gray eye. Flecks of silver glinted in the sunlight.

"**Help me…. Please…."**

"Kisa!"

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Okay, so the beast described is taken from Kemono no Souja Erin, also known as Beast Player Erin. It's a good anime if you haven't seen it, if not a little slow. So I do not own Ohju or Beast Player Erin in any way. I just… I honestly have little creativity in making up monsters or creatures. Believe me, I tried. So I borrowed some that make sense, sorry if anyone doesn't like it. I will be borrowing more creatures in the future but I will let you know where they came from. Let me know if I made any mistakes and thank you again for reading!


	6. Chapter 5: A Chance of Going Home

I'd like to thank Marina Rose and Footster26 for their reviews. I'm sorry, I can't answer any of your questions right now but I plan to make things clear in upcoming chapters. I'm really happy you both like it so far! I'm thinking I may rewrite some of the first chapters as they were a little more rushed than I would like. But I will continue updating for those who want to read new chapters. Thank you very much for reading, I really appreciate it! I do not own anything including Fairy Tail and the concept of Ohju (taken from Kemono no Souja Erin).

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

**-Kisa-**

I looked up in disbelief. Lucy had called my name! And she was looking straight at me!

"**You know it's me?"** I tried to say. All that I could hear was an animalistic rumble coming from my own mouth and it was driving me crazy. I tried to raise my arms before remembering I didn't have any. Instead, wings ended up fluttering uselessly at my sides, buffeting my friends with wind.

"It _is_ you Kisa!" She yelped. Her eyes looked as though they would pop out of her skull if they opened any wider.

"I knew it…" Bjorn stated quietly.

"**How?"** I tried to say, but again could only produce a short bark. This was irritating, but they seemed to understand me.

"I was wondering the same thing," He said, looking at me suspiciously. "How is it that you still smell like Kisa, but you wear the form of an Ohju?"

"**Is that what these are called?"** I tried asking. I had stopped thinking about the fact that I wasn't actually speaking at all but only chirruping and barking like a beast. As long as they could understand me…

Bjorn's eyes narrowed to slits. "These?" He questioned. "You have seen another Ohju?"

I shuffled nervously, oblivious to the deep gouges I was making in the earth with my sharp new claws. I wasn't supposed to tell people about that… But these were my friends. And I needed help.

"**Yes,"** I acknowledged. **"My friend… Alan, he also changed into this creature once. I was always jealous of it… it was so pretty…"** I trailed off, knowing I may have said too much about my own feelings. I had never even told Alan how much I envied his ability to turn into such a beautiful winged animal. But he had never changed in front of me again after the first time, maybe sensing my desire to also take that form and soar through the sky… When I had tried, all I had managed to do was grow wings and crash to the ground…

The desire was quickly wearing off as I realized how strange it felt to have my body changed so drastically. _"I wonder if Alan felt like this…"_ I thought, guilty I hadn't realized this before.

"Changed?" Lucy interrupted my silent musing. "You mean like take over magic?"

"No… This is different from take over magic," Bjorn said quietly. Lucy turned to him.

"Why is that?" She asked. "Lisanna uses animal soul takeover and Elfman uses beast soul takeover… How are those different from Kisa using the form of this creature?"

"It's an Ohju," He snapped. I was surprised; he always seemed calm until now and was never short with Lucy. "It's a mythical beast that was supposed to be a legend! If it ever existed at all, it was many thousands of years ago! They would be completely extinct by now so no human could take over an Ohju's form! Take over requires the mage to truly 'know' the form they are taking over. It's impossible since no Ohju is alive and modern humans have no knowledge of them…" His fur bristled as his agitation became more evident.

"**Then how do you know of them?"** I grumbled.

"I have a friend that told me about them," He said huffily. "Another of the sanctum keys, you could ask if you obtained their key." He directed at Lucy.

"Well… Can you change back?" Lucy asked hopefully.

I shook my head. **"I can't. I keep trying but nothing works…" **I sighed mournfully.

"How did you change in the first place?" Bjorn asked cautiously.

"**I was trying to bring out wings again… I wanted to see how removing the seal inside me affected my ability to use magic."** I stopped, unsure of how to continue. The feeling of changing was difficult to describe. I didn't need to worry as Bjorn interrupted.

"S-seal?" He stuttered. "You mean you had one too?" He looked at Lucy who nodded.

"Yes, we removed them from each other," She said simply. "But I don't get how-"

"It makes perfect sense!" He shouted gleefully. He had a triumphant look on his face and he motioned for me to come closer.

I moved near to him carefully, curious at what he meant. I flinched as he jumped up to rest on my shoulders, nearly lying on my head. He felt extremely light as he scratched behind my ear and I made a purring sound in contentment. That felt really nice…

"You escaped from the slavers by summoning wings and flying away, am I correct?" I growled in confirmation. Lucy seemed to relax slightly and came to sit next to me, back leaning against my side. I was careful not to move as the spirit continued. "If I'm right, when you did that you had only drawn out a partial transformation. When you removed your seals, you removed the barrier preventing you from fully transforming. This is the result." I blinked. It certainly did make sense.

"But how is she supposed to change back?" Lucy questioned.

"That I don't know," Bjorn stated bluntly. "How did you remove your wings before?" He directed at me.

"**Well…"** I started, trying to think back to when I did. **"I just… did. I used a bit of magic to undo what I had done before."**

"Well there's your answer," He stated dryly. "Use magic to change back."

"**I've been trying!"** I growled in exasperation. **"But it doesn't work! It just kind of… fizzles out."** I ended lamely.

This caused Bjorn to erupt in a burst of laughter. I flicked my ear in annoyance. He was loud and laughing at my predicament; not amusing from my perspective. Lucy didn't seem to find it funny either.

"Knock it off, Bjorn. She's worried and you're not helping," She stood up to give a stern glare towards the spirit who had rolled off my back in a fit of giggles.

"Sorry, sorry," He wiped a tear from his eye. "It's just… between the two of you, you really have no control. It's again, a simple explanation."

"**Which is?"** I prompted him to continue.

"You used up too much magic to transform in the first place and don't have enough to change back," My jaw dropped. I'm sure I must have looked comical considering I had a face resembling a large wolf right now, but I couldn't help it. It made sense. And it made me seem like an idiot for unknowingly using up so much magic.

"Which means she should be able to change back once she recovers a little!" Lucy babbled excitedly.

"**That's all?"** I sighed deeply. I was worried I was never going to change back and it was that easy the entire time? Geez.

"That's all," Bjorn teased. I sniffed in embarrassment and promptly wished I hadn't. I stink. Terribly. And Lucy was no better. We had not bathed in the week or two since our original meeting and I desperately wanted to be clean again.

"**Hey…"** I started. **"I want to take a bath, any place I can do that?"**

"That sounds like a great idea!" Lucy grinned excitedly. She got up to walk between the trees and motioned for me to follow. I stood up unsteadily as I wasn't used to the curvature of my spine just yet, and tried to follow.

After a short walk and nearly getting stuck between the trunks of the trees, we made it to a steadily flowing stream with clear, cool water. I got in immediately, water barely reaching my chest as I crouched in the chilly water. Lucy had called to Bjorn to keep watch for people and was currently stripping to her underwear. I ducked my head underwater and shook, trying to get rid of the grime sticking between my feathers and skin. Or was it fur?

"Brrr!" Lucy yelped as she waded in the small river. I shook my head playfully and sprayed her with water droplets. "Hey!" She retaliated with a splash.

We spent the next half hour trying to get clean; me rolling in the stream like a bird in a puddle and Lucy scrubbing her hair and skin under the water.

We were drying off on the banks, sun setting in the distance, before I noticed how tired Lucy still seemed. She had recovered hardly at all from when we had first met Bjorn.

"**You okay?" **I grunted quietly. She jumped a little, then looked up at me.

"I'm okay…" She trailed off, seeing the disbelieving look I was giving her. She giggled nervously. "Okay, so maybe I'm a bit tired."

"Of course you're tired," Bjorn appeared from behind a tree, ignoring Lucy's protests and attempts to cover herself up. "You've summoned me continuously for the past day. Having a powerful spirit out all the time would be tiring for anyone not used to it." He stated smugly as Lucy pulled her clothes on, still somewhat damp. She looked annoyed at Bjorn having seen her in her underwear.

"**You keep saying you're a powerful spirit…"** I started. I had been curious for a while now.** "What exactly is your power Bjorn?"**

"That's true," Lucy sulked, still a little irked with him. "I'm your partner and I don't even know what your power is. That doesn't seem fair."

He gave a devilish grin, showing off both pointed canines. "Well, what do you think?"

Lucy threw up her hands in exasperation. "I don't know! That's why I'm asking!"

Bjorn chuckled and gave us a thoughtful look. "I'll give you a hint," He sounded like he was planning something. "I am exactly what my title implies."

Lucy groaned in exasperation. "Fine, I'll figure it out myself later. Let's head back for now."

I tried laughing as we began to head back, but my form just made it sound like a long, rumbling cough. Bjorn gave me an amused grin as Lucy stomped in front of us, still obviously miffed.

"I know you're angry, but may I ask a question?" He addressed Lucy cautiously.

"What's up?" She responded. She sounded almost back to her normal, cheerful self again. She must have forgiven him for peeping.

"I was thinking… Will you look for the rest of the sanctum spirit keys?" He questioned. He sounded hopeful. "You don't need to answer now, I just wanted to let you ponder it for a bit."

"Well…" Lucy began.

"Like I said," Bjorn interrupted, waving a clawed paw. "I just wanted you to think about it. No need to worry about it too much just yet."

It was twilight as we made it back to our temporary home in the clearing, and Lucy looked more exhausted than ever. Bjorn shot her a troubled look to which she responded with a sigh.

"I'm really tired, let's just go to sleep," She declared slowly. She flopped on the ground and stared at the few early stars that were beginning to appear in the sky.

"I think I should go back for the night…" Bjorn responded quietly. "Call me in the morning when you two wake up."

"**Okay,"** I agreed, resting next to Lucy. She curled up next to me, the night air was starting to become chilly. Lifting a wing, I let her crawl next to me where she curled up for warmth.

"I suppose… I'll send you back for now, I need to actually get some rest tonight." She addressed him. He nodded. "Close the gate!" Bjorn faded out of view until it was only me and Lucy in the clearing. I folded my wing around Lucy as best I could and promptly fell asleep.

**-Lucy-**

I tried to fall asleep, I really did. I focused on Kisa breathing deeply next to me, hoping it could lull me to finally rest a bit. But no matter what I did, my mind was racing too much to allow my body the respite it craved. My feet poked out from under Kisa's wing where I was currently snuggled in. It made my whole body shiver, I was still damp from bathing and the cold night air was no help.

"_I wish Natsu was here… He would have no problem warming me up,"_ I thought absentmindedly.

Wait. What?

I shook my head and pulled my feet closer. That was a random thought. And weird. Definitely weird. Natsu would call me a weirdo if he heard me say that.

Damn.

There he was again. He kept popping up in my thoughts. I really missed the dragon slayer… And all my other friends too of course!

I tried a new tactic to fall asleep. I imagined different scenarios which might occur when _"When, not if!"_ I returned to Fairy Tail, my home. The first involved me getting a calm hug from everyone. Not going to happen. The second, I was knocked out cold before getting to greet anyone. Okay, that was possible. What's next?

These thoughts filled my head, the return scenes steadily becoming more absurd, until I finally managed to drift off to sleep.

* * *

><p>A crick in my neck woke me up abruptly. I tried to stretch before realizing I was being smothered in a sea of white and fluff. I panicked for a second before feeling a deep breath expand a giant chest behind my back.<p>

"_Kisa… Of course,"_ I thought in relief. I tried to move again, but quickly realized I was pinned until Kisa decided to wake up. I could tell it was late morning, birds chirping all around and a soft light filtering between the feathers that blocked my vision.

I felt wonderful, better than I had in days. I hadn't realized how much power it took to summon Bjorn until he wasn't here. After a good night's sleep, I felt refreshed though still more tired than I remembered feeling in a long time. Resigning myself to wait, my thoughts turned back to yesterday.

"_Kisa turns into an Ohju!"_ I was still amazed my friend was this magnificent being slumbering next to me. It was really an astonishing bit of magic. _"She has wings…"_ I registered. _ "I wonder if she can fly?"_ It was a valid question. If she really could fly in this form, maybe she could fly farther without becoming tired. _"Maybe she could fly us over an ocean?"_ That would have to wait.

Another question had been raised by Bjorn last night. Did I want to try and find the rest of the sanctum keys? _"Of course I want them…"_ But did I deserve them? I had trouble summoning just one spirit! If the rest were as powerful as Bjorn, did I even have the power to have all eight?

A loud grunt startled me out of my thoughts. I was about to speak when Kisa gave an almighty lurch, sending me somersaulting away from her. I looked up at her from the grass. She was frozen, a mixture of realization and meekness apparent on her lupine features.

"_She had forgotten she had changed form,"_ I realized, and immediately had to stifle laughter at the thought. I heard her give a short bark followed by a series of chirruping noises before I recognized that I couldn't understand her at all.

"Wait, wait a second Kisa!" I shouted. She looked at me curiously, head cocked to one side. "I can't understand you at all, let me call Bjorn." I planted my feet on the ground, raising his key in the air. "Open the gate of the Beast King! Bjorn!"

"You called," He smirked toothily. "I didn't expect you two to sleep quite this late honestly." He looked around, eyes falling on Kisa. He gave her a small wave and she nodded back.

"I can't understand her at all," I brought up immediately. I wanted to be able to talk to my friend.

"That's because I left of course," Bjorn supplied. "A spirit's secondary ability is only useable as the spirit is summoned to the human world."

I nodded, having suspected that stipulation. _"I've been learning so many new things about my spirits… Why have I never heard of these things before?" _I wondered as I summoned the ability to understand and communicate with beasts.

"**I'm really sorry,"** Kisa lowered her head apologetically. **"I forgot what I was…"**

I smiled. My hunch had been correct. "No problem," I comforted her. "I had panicked a little myself when I woke up. I would be scared too if I woke up as a giant winged Ohju."

"**Yeah…"** Kisa trailed off. That reminded me. I looked at the wings tucked close to her body and thought back to my musings last night. I decided to ask.

"Hey Kisa," I started. She grunted in acknowledgement. "Um… You have wings."

I smacked myself in the forehead as Bjorn gave me a blank stare. He teased my unrehearsed sentence. "Well, that's a bit obvious."

"I know that!" I yelled in frustration. This was hard… "I meant can you use them? Can you fly?"

"**Um…. Well… I-I don't know,"** Kisa stumbled slowly. **"I honestly hadn't even thought about it. I can try?"** She began to sound excited.

The human turned Ohju walked to the far end of the small clearing. She breathed deeply as she unfurled her wings. I was amazed at how big they really were, each as long as a table from the Fairy Tail dining hall. Looking determined, Kisa started sprinting, her footfalls creating tremors as she ran. She flapped her wings, once, twice, and began to rise in the air-

Before falling back down to earth. Surprised, she lost her balance and fell headfirst into a small tree. It immediately splintered in half as Kisa let out a pained yelp.

"A spectacular crash landing in which nobody flew," Bjorn chuckled a bit as soon as he saw Kisa rise from the wreckage, dazed but unhurt.

"I guess not," I sighed, honestly a bit disappointed. There goes that plan to get home.

Kisa was so embarrassed; I swear I could see a small blush on her furry face.

"An Ohju that can't fly," Bjorn scoffed. "What a joke." I gasped. He was being incredibly unfair. And I had never heard him talk that unkindly to Kisa, I thought he rather liked her!

"Yup, what a disgrace. I bet your friend Alan could fly on his first try," He continued. This time I could see the mischievous glint in his eye, as well as the frustrated one in Kisa's.

"**Shut up!"** She roared. It was frightening; I flinched despite knowing that the dangerous looking animal in front of me was my friend. **"I'll show you!"** She continued.

I heard Bjorn gasp and I was speechless as Kisa's entire body began to glow. White light surrounded her form, shining like the sun reflecting off water. The forest breeze seemed to converge on her form too, surrounding her in a cocoon of wind and light. With one enormous beat of her wings, she was in the air.

"She's flying," I said breathlessly. I watched her soar higher and higher, still enveloped in light. As she circled above us, it really hit me. "She's flying!" I gasped excitedly. I looked at Bjorn who was looking triumphantly at Kisa. I tackled him in a tight hug. "She's flying! She's flying!" I crowed jubilantly, happy tears rolling down my face. I jumped up and down with the spirit still in my arms.

"_We have a chance,"_ I knew. Kisa circled once more before coming close to the ground to land. _"We may be able to go home soon!"_

Or not. I winced as Kisa attempted to land but ended up tumbling in a heap. She was panting as she staggered to her feet. **"How's that!"** She huffed at Bjorn. She barked triumphantly.

"Much improved," Bjorn admitted. "That's why I goaded you."

Both of our jaws dropped. **"You… did that on purpose,"** Kisa acknowledged. She hung her head in embarrassment. **"I should have known.**"

"I had to," He defended as I sent him a murderous glare. "Your first attempt was doomed to fail; you hadn't even used any magic!"

"Magic?" I questioned dangerously. He was an idiot! He could have just told her.

"Yes, magic. Ohju are too heavy to fly naturally, they must use magic to support themselves in the air. That was that light," He nodded in Kisa's direction. "It's used unconsciously, so I had to trick her!" He pleaded.

"Fine," I crossed my arms in defeat. "But you should apologize!"

"I am sorry for tricking you," He mumbled towards Kisa, who nodded in forgiveness. "But the payoff was quite nice, am I correct?"

She grinned wolfishly. **"Definitely worth it."**

"So, think you can fly over an ocean?" I asked hopefully.

She hung her head in defeat. **"Definitely not. I'm exhausted after just that flight… I'm really sorry Lucy."**

"Both of you need to train," Bjorn cut me off from my hasty apology. "After training a bit to increase your magic threshold and efficiency, we may be able to cross an ocean." He grinned at my shocked expression.

"R-Really?" I asked excitedly. "Will you help, Bjorn?"

"Of course," He stated proudly. "But we can't just train and then leave, we need supplies. I assume you two are still ravenous?"

I grinned sheepishly. We had only eaten what we could scrounge up after our bath yesterday. I would happily devour an entire table of food at the moment. Kisa was going to need a lot of food in her current form as well.

"Well, I can help in that department. As long as you two aren't adverse to a bit of… borrowing?" He said the last bit quietly.

"**You mean stealing?"** Kisa huffed, turning up her nose in disgust.

"Well, yes. Though that's a bad way of thinking about it," He replied dryly.

"How would you think about it?" I wondered, feeling a little nauseous. We weren't really going to steal were we?

He looked at us blandly. "You two were stolen from your home and brought here against your will to be bought and sold as slaves. I think taking a few things to get back home is entirely appropriate, wouldn't you agree?"

"**That…"** Kisa looked defeated.** "That actually makes sense."**

Unfortunately, I had to agree. "Just… Let's just take things from people who have enough. I don't want to steal from the poor…"

"Duly noted," He quipped. "Now, Lucy. I'm going to ask you to channel magic to me. It'll be tiring, but I'll get you what you need."

"**Does that mean we can see what your magic is?"** Kisa asked in surprise.

"Yup," He sighed. "Too bad, it would be fun to make you guys keep guessing. Now what should I bring back?"

I shook my head once. He was at times a bit infuriating with his mischievous behavior. "Okay, we need food obviously… Clothes would be nice, ours are disgusting." I shuddered. I had never worn the same clothes for this long, and my favorite miniskirt was ruined. "Maybe find a pot or something to carry water in and something to start a fire. Soap would be amazing if you could find it." I added hopefully. The water only bath had left my hair greasy and I was dying for a hot bath in my apartment.

"**A map would be helpful for leaving this country,"** Kisa added thoughtfully.

He nodded and looked at me expectantly. Taking a deep breath, I gathered my magic and channeled it toward my newest spirit.

He immediately began to change, his skin almost bubbling and melting as I watched. Kisa growled in trepidation as lime green feathers replaced black fur, paws deformed into monkey like hands, and new appendages sprouted from his back. The shape grew larger until it was as large as a horse, then the transformation stopped. The creature that stared back at me with Bjorn's dark green eyes was completely different than what he looked like. The beast was pale green, 3 sets of wings falling from its back. It was covered in feathers except for its hands and feet which resembled that of a human, but slightly deformed in shape and size. A long muscular tail, pairs of gray spikes adorning the sides, waved behind it. A cruel, curved beak clicked in amusement at our shocked stares. It was truly strange and slightly terrifying.

"Like it?" Bjorn's voice came from the beaked face.

"**The Beast King…"** Kisa breathed.

"Yup, I can assume the form of any beast I wish. And this will do quite nicely for taking things," He commented gleefully.

I staggered slightly, his transformation taking a lot more magic than I had wanted. I was almost as tired as yesterday again. I groaned and sat down, again exhausted.

"Don't worry, I won't change again. I'll be back soon," Bjorn stated gently. He extended the six wings on his back and launched himself in the air. Looking back at us once more, he sped off in the direction we came from when escaping the port we had arrived at.

"**Why don't we rest while we wait for Bjorn to return?"** Kisa prodded. Did I really look that tired?

I scowled at the thought, but a nap did sound tempting. Besides, there was nothing to do until he came back. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." I acknowledged.

I collapsed to lie on my back, happy it was warm this afternoon. Kisa also settled down like a bird, seems she decided to nap as well.

Basking in the warm morning sun, I immediately started to doze off. _"I can't wait for a meal, I'm starved!"_ I thought. I laughed quietly at the idea. _"I sound like Natsu…"_ It was my last thought before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Hello and thank you very much for reading! I hope you liked the chapter, please consider reviewing if you did or if you found mistakes you wouldn't mind pointing out. I made it a bit long again, I hope the length is okay. Thank you again for reading!


	7. Chapter 6: Training with Bjorn

Thank you Raiking for your review, I'm really glad you like it! I'm happy I caught most of my mistakes before putting up the chapters, but thank you Mossyhairundys for letting me know about one I hadn't seen in the last chapter. I really appreciate the input, I have changed it as you corrected. I have somewhat revised some of the first chapters. There have been no major changes so there is no need to go back and read those chapters again if you already have. I do not own anything and thank you very much for reading! I really appreciate everyone who reviewed, favorite, or subscribed to this story.

EDIT: Thank you again Mossyhairyundys for catching another mistake. I have fixed it accordingly. I really appreciate the help!

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

**-Kisa-**

I woke to the sound of beating wings. I yawned heavily and stretched as Bjorn landed, awkwardly carrying a makeshift bag of sorts in his front feet… Or were they hands?

It was almost sundown I could tell, the sun had long passed its highest point and was beginning to descend into the horizon. Lucy stretched a short distance away, looking much better than before but still tired. We both seemed to be stuck in a perpetual state of exhaustion now that we had no seals to hold us back. Speaking of which…

I could tell something had shifted. It was as though something clicked inside me, surpassing the barricade preventing me from being human. I grinned. I had accumulated enough magic.

Too excited to warn my companions, I immediately started channeling magic toward my transformation. My vision went black, my body shrunk, I stood upright, and fur and feathers dissipated. I was more prepared than my first time changing, but it still left me slightly dazed.

A sharp intake of breath next to me was all the warning I had before I was squeezed in a tight hug. Lucy was squealing with excitement, yelling "You did it!"

"Welcome back," Bjorn said warmly. It was somewhat dampened by the odd form he was still in. Honestly, the creature he looked like now was a bit scary.

Lucy stopped hugging me and smiled widely. I smiled back, flexing my fingers. It felt so good to have hands again! "Thanks," I said hoarsely. Having a voice again was nice too.

"Well! In celebration of your achievement," Bjorn slapped his hand on the ground and pulled something from his makeshift bag, made from a tied blanket I found upon closer inspection. "How about some food?" He pulled a pot filled with food from the cloth and set it down in front of us.

"Food!" Lucy and I nearly growled in relief. We were both starving. I reached for a loaf of bread and tore into it with my teeth. Swallowing much too quickly, I hiccupped and reached for a yellow curved fruit. I bit into it, finding the outside to be tough and bitter so I focused on the sweet inside. It was delicious though a bit soft for my liking under normal circumstances. Lucy was eating as quickly as me, now fighting to tear off a piece of dried meat, a large round fruit resting in her lap already half eaten. We must have looked ridiculous as Bjorn was staring at us half in awe, half amusement.

We began to slow down, now taking our time savoring the food instead of wolfing it down. Bjorn decided it was safe to talk now that we didn't seem so wild and starved. "I also brought a few changes of clothes, soap, and obviously a blanket." He grinned triumphantly.

"Thanks Bjorn!" Lucy hugged the spirit who made an odd grumbling sound. I assumed it was a content noise… It was hard to tell with his strange form. "Wanna take a bath, Kisa?" She asked excitedly.

"Definitely," I cringed as I ran my fingers through my greasy, tangled hair. "Let's go."

We got up and walked to the familiar stream, content now that our stomachs were full. Bjorn again was told to keep watch and to stay away by Lucy. I giggled a little at how stern she was with the spirit about this; she hadn't quite forgiven him for the first time we took a bath.

"_This is amazing,"_ I thought blissfully as we washed with the soap Bjorn had brought. I could finally wash away the weeks of grime I had accumulated. _"Actually,_" I frowned._ "I don't know how long we have been away. It feels like it's been too long…"_

"Hey Lucy," I called.

"Hm?" She responded, engrossed in washing her hair. I could tell she was just as ecstatic as I was to finally be clean.

"How long's it been since we left Fiore?" I asked quietly. I was slightly ashamed I didn't know.

Lucy fidgeted a little. While we were bathing, I couldn't help but notice her breasts were really big. They made my own seem so pitiful in comparison... She drew me out of my envious thoughts by admitting "I actually was wondering the same thing."

We both sighed, disappointed with ourselves. It had at least been over a week, I knew. Maybe even two. I left the stream, finally clean, and walked over to pull on the fresh clothes Bjorn had taken. Lucy soon followed and the three of us walked back to the clearing in silent contemplation.

It was nearly dark, and Bjorn was hovering around Lucy at the moment. She noticed. "What's wrong?" She asked in concern.

"You two want to leave as soon as possible, right?" He asked quietly.

"Yes!" "Of course!" We both shouted in unison.

He chuckled a bit. "Then I think it would be in our best interests to start training. Now."

"Right now?" Lucy said incredulously.

"Yes. Right now," Bjorn confirmed. "Nothing too tiring, I just think that you Lucy should always have me summoned. It will help you build up your magic so you won't feel tired all the time. After a while of course."

She nodded in resignation. It was a reasonable suggestion no matter how tired I knew she would feel later.

"Other than that I think we can just sleep for the night," He had an impish tone. "The real fun starts in the morning. I will not be going easy on you two."

Lucy visibly shuddered as she knelt in the grass. I sat next to her, already dreading the morning.

I pulled my knees to my chest. The night was already starting to cool down, soon it would be too cold to sleep. I actually missed my fur coat and feathers I had as an Ohju.

"I miss Natsu…" Lucy whispered. "I always think about him when I'm cold, though I should think about Gray. I guess I miss the warmth…" She trailed off. She seemed confused about something so I decided not to press the conversation.

"I miss Alan too," I admitted. "But don't worry, we'll be home soon. Or at least we have a way to go home." She smiled at this. Bjorn trotted over, still in the scary form he had taken to steal things. I still wasn't happy about that but we had little choice in this situation.

"Lucy, if you wouldn't mind. I would like to transform," He asked slowly. She grimaced, but complied. Soon, he became a large, dusty brown, hoofed animal. It had a huge woolly coat that was so long, it obscured the beasts' face entirely. I couldn't even tell if it had a tail or not. Lucy slumped next to him from the effort. "I will keep you two warm tonight," He stated simply. He lay next to Lucy who pulled the long fur over herself, curling up comfortably.

"Hey Bjorn, Kisa?" Lucy mumbled tiredly. "I think I'll find the rest of the sanctum keys. You must be lonely without your friends." She directed toward Bjorn. He sighed happily.

"Thank you…" He whispered. "You have no idea what this means to me. They should all be in Fiore so we needn't worry about that yet. We'll get you two home first."

Lucy gave a soft laugh which turned into a quiet snore.

I crawled over to Bjorn's other side. "Thanks," I mumbled tiredly. Drawing a layer of fur over me as well, I was suddenly warm and sleepy. A musky scent rose from the soft fur and lulled me to sleep almost as soon as I got comfortable.

* * *

><p>"Hey! C'mon you two, time to get up!" I heard a gleeful voice ring out. I shook myself from slumber.<p>

"Wha-" Lucy started before dissolving into a yawn.

"AAHHH!" I screamed as a giant furry thing shoved its face near mine. The smell was musky and familiar… Wait… "Bjorn?" The creature was chuckling maniacally. "Bjorn! You nearly scared me to death!" I yelled sheepishly. I hadn't recognized him after his second transformation.

"Hehe, that was quite the reaction I must admit. I quite enjoyed it," He laughed again. Lucy rolled her eyes. "Well, time for a quick breakfast then on to training. I have a surprise for you two." He added happily. Lucy and I looked at each other hesitantly before grabbing some fruit for breakfast.

After we had eaten, Bjorn produced two small stones from his mouth. They were about the size of a walnut and completely normal in appearance.

Lucy looked at the one in her hand. "Well?" She asked impatiently. She tapped her foot in annoyance. "What are we supposed to do with these?"

"Improve your efficiency," He retorted simply. He could be quite infuriating when he wanted to be.

"And what is that exactly?" I questioned. "You've mentioned threshold and efficiency before, but never actually explained them. What are they?"

"I guess I haven't, have I?" Bjorn said thoughtfully. I couldn't see his expression from under the thick fur his current form was sporting. "Very well. Magic efficiency can be also called magical control. It is the way mages use magic to its fullest potential. For example," He looked at me. "When you turned into an Ohju, a lot of magic you input into the spell is not actually used for it. It simply dissipates into the atmosphere. Control the direction of your magic better, and you can have more energy leftover from any particular spell. Not much is wasted and not so much is needed in the first place in order for the spell to be effective."

He then turned to look at Lucy. "Your magic threshold is how much power you have available at any given time. I suppose you can say it's your magical stamina. Improve this, and you have more magic to use from the very beginning. Both are useful to have maximized."

"I… see," I pondered. So if we improve these two qualities to our magic power, we won't be so tired when we use it?"

"Precisely," Bjorn affirmed. "Now I've been wondering Kisa. Is an Ohju the only thing you can change into?"

My mouth went dry. How did he know? "Well…" I started. I decided to tell the truth. "No, actually. I had changed into a cat before. I haven't done it in a while but-"

"Try it now," He commanded.

Startled, I closed my eyes and channeled my magic immediately. With Bjorn's words in mind, I tried to focus my power only towards my transformation but had no way of telling if I had succeeded. I opened my eyes when I was done, looking up at Lucy and Bjorn.

"So cute…" Lucy cooed before scooping me up in a hug. "You are just too adorable!" I purred a little, but was too tired to turn back immediately.

"Now you Lucy," Bjorn interrupted. Lucy started but did what he asked as he changed back to his original form seconds later. She staggered slightly under the effort.

"Good job trying, both of you. But you just don't automatically become good at controlling magical energy," Bjorn acknowledged our attempts. "You just wasted most of your magic. It's floating around in the air with no way back. I want to help you stop that." He pointed at the stone I had dropped when I transformed.

"First, Kisa, you need to change back. And don't give me that look, I know how difficult it is. But I did say I wouldn't take it easy on you," Bjorn raised his eyebrows at my glare. I sighed in defeat, jumping down from Lucy's arms. I tried again to control where my magic went, and failed again. However, this time I could recognize what he was talking about. I put out a lot more magic than I used up when I changed form. I didn't bother getting up when I changed back, deciding to sit on the ground for a bit to catch my breath. Lucy sat beside me as Bjorn started to talk again.

"Now I'm sure you're both wondering about those stones I gave you?" We nodded. "I picked them up when I went back to the spirit world two nights ago. They're just simple stones there, but here they will be your training tools." He grinned triumphantly as Lucy scowled. Her face clearly said 'go on' and Bjorn seemed to take the hint. "Here in the human world, you can channel magic into them and they simply float."

He walked over to two trees and at around eye level, drew identical scratches on the bark with his claws. Each tree had two horizontal lines about five inches apart, only slightly bigger than the stones themselves.

He pointed at them. "Now both of you will channel magic into these stones to keep them in the lines. Too little and they won't be high enough, too much and they'll be too high. Keep going until I tell you to stop." He stated simply, then walking away to rest under a tree.

We gaped at him for a second. "I guess…" Lucy began.

"We should start?" I finished for her.

The stupid exercise was insanely hard. Neither of us made much progress in the next few hours. We simply could not keep the stones from wavering constantly, never being in the correct boundary for more than a few seconds. Often, they would drop to the ground or shoot in the air when we got frustrated enough. Bjorn finally let us take a break for lunch, but made us go right back to training soon after.

Our schedule for the next day was infuriatingly similar. Wake up, eat, train, eat, train, bathe, eat, and then sleep. I started to feel an uncanny hatred for the tiny rock, calling it names in my mind during training.

After three days of this, both Lucy and I were starting to get the hang of it. And Lucy mastered it finally when Bjorn had left to get more food from the estate he had robbed last time. I mastered it minutes before he came back, shouting triumphantly with Lucy as I made the damn rock float steadily between the lines carved in the tree trunk.

**-Lucy-**

I was ecstatic. Kisa and I had _finally_ managed to get the hang of controlling our magical output using that stupid rock. Kisa had really hated the last few days; I caught her mumbling curses at her rock often before we finally managed to do what Bjorn asked.

Speaking of my spirit friend, I heard wings in the distance and knew he was returning with the food he promised. I was glad, it made me nervous when he left us.

"Hey Bjorn!" Kisa called elatedly. "We got it! We can do it now!"

"Really?" He stated, amused. Setting down his cargo, he walked toward us in his strange winged form. "Let's see."

We both turned instantly toward our respective tree and stone. I concentrated, imagining my magic to be a steady stream directed only toward the stone. It hovered over the line at first, so I lowered the intensity. It fell a little too low, so I added a bit more power. Perfect.

"Very nice!" Bjorn praised us. Kisa had also accomplished the task quickly. "I'm impressed, both of you picked up on that quickly. I expected a few more days for you to be this proficient with the stones."

"Can we get rid of them then?" Kisa asked excitedly.

Bjorn looked amused. "Yes, you don't need them anymore."

"Yes!" Kisa ran over to the tree, picked up the stone, and threw it as far into the woods as she could. "Have a good life as a rock, asshole!" She crowed haughtily.

I giggled. She was being silly again. "So can we try using magic again?" I asked, curious how much this had affected us.

"Be my guest," Bjorn bowed in mock reverence. He had a slightly maddening sense of humor at times.

I channeled my magic toward Bjorn and Kisa closed her eyes in concentration. I could already feel the improvement; I was tired after the effort but not terribly so. It was like night and day compared to what I felt like almost a week ago. Bjorn looked at me in appreciation in his normal form, black fur glistening in the afternoon sun.

"Very good job," He directed at us. The small white cat next to me meowed excitedly.

"Cute…" I sighed wistfully as I picked up Kisa and scratched behind her ears. Her cat form was absolutely adorable, her long white fur silky to touch. She was very similar as her human form, small and stocky with gray eyes. She purred absentmindedly as she looked toward Bjorn. I was glad she didn't mind me petting her in this form; she is too cute as a cat to resist!

"Still could use some work, but much improved from before. Nothing the stones can help you with now," He continued. "Next, we should work on increasing your threshold."

"Our initial amount of magic, right?" I asked.

"Yes. The higher a mages' threshold, the more magic they have at their disposal from the beginning. Some mages even have such a high threshold, they have almost no control over how and where to direct it," He added.

His description reminded me instantly of Natsu. He always seemed to have an abundance of magic no matter how much he let his flames go out of control. He was in direct contrast to Erza who always seemed to be calm and in control during a fight. Bjorn's' way of explaining magic made even more sense in that case. Natsu had a high threshold, but little to no efficiency to control it with. Erza on the other hand had incredible control over her power; she seemed the very essence of efficiency when it came to magic.

My eyes watered as I again thought of how much I missed Fairy Tail. I would do nearly anything at this point to be back at my guild, laughing among my friends…

Bjorn, seemingly sensing my inner distress, distracted me quickly. "I have a way I think will improve your stamina when it comes to fighting with magic."

"Which would be?" Kisa asked, giving me time to wipe my eyes.

"Sparring," He smirked with his signature toothy grin. "Kisa against Lucy and me."

"Two to one seems hardly fair…" Kisa sniffed.

"Ah, but that's how stellar spirit magic works. The mage with the ability to make the most of his technique is much more valuable than sheer numbers," He said.

"Unless there are impossible odds like a thousand to one," Kisa mumbled to me under her breath. I couldn't help but giggle.

"What was that?" Bjorn rolled his eyes and picked at his nails.

"I said it's a great idea!" Kisa teased. Those two really did get along remarkably well.

"Then let's get started!" Bjorn shouted gleefully. He had seemed incredibly restless the past few days. He seemed excited at the chance to move around. "No transforming into something bigger than a human for both of us, to make it fair." He grinned at Kisa who paled. She wasn't going to use her Ohju form then… How was she going to fight?

Bjorn didn't give either of us time to think, launching himself at her. Kisa yelped and rolled out of the way just in time. Bjorn recovered quickly, twisting in midair to jump again as soon as he landed. This time, it was a direct hit. I winced as Kisa fell on her backside, winded from the punch to her abdomen.

"You… Bastard… Y-you're being… serious," She gasped.

"And you didn't take me seriously," Bjorn grinned again. "So we're even."

This time, as soon as Bjorn leapt at her again, Kisa blurred and changed into a small white cat. Surprised, Bjorn sailed right over her to land in the grass. She was already there though, sinking her small fangs into my spirit's tail. He yelped and batted her away.

"Very good use of your smaller form," He acknowledged. Kisa meowed defiantly. "Lucy!"

"R-right!" I shouted, channeling power to Bjorn who changed into a large dog-like creature. I knew he wouldn't actually hurt her… Would, he?

He chased her around for a bit, seemingly enjoying himself as Kisa spit and hissed angrily at him. He nipped at her tail a couple times and she grew even more furious. Just as he was about to catch her, she stopped. He looked curiously at her as she growled, tail and fur fluffed out to its fullest. He crouched as if to pounce when her form blurred. I expected her to be back to human form which made the sight even more surprising.

Bjorn was on his back, pinned by a beautiful white cat. However, it was completely different from before. Instead, it was large, as large as Bjorn's current form. The thick muscular tail was as long as the cat's entire stocky body. The thick white pelt was spotted with inky black rosettes and a low growl came from her open mouth as she pinned Bjorn under compact legs and large paws. Kisa had managed to surprise me yet again. She was a snow leopard, a cat I had only seen pictures of in books about high mountain terrains.

"Kisa…?" I began before Bjorn cut me off. He was laughing again, chuckling insanely as Kisa and I looked on in disbelief. Kisa growled and I remembered to activate my secondary ability.

"**You tricked me again bastard,"** She growled softly, letting him up as he continued to laugh lightly.

"Yup," He agreed cheerfully. "I knew you had it in you, I just had to make you realize it too."

"Then why don't you ever just come out and say it?" I groaned. It really would make things a lot easier…

Bjorn gave me an astonished look. "That would take all the fun out of it of course!" He laughed even harder at my infuriated expression. I shook my head looked away. To my astonishment, a small deer was staring at me from the bushes.

"Hey… Come over here…" I started, not realizing how foolish that was. To my surprise, it walked a little closer, staring at me reproachfully.

"**What is going on here?"** I heard. I looked behind me, Kisa hadn't talked. She was still arguing with Bjorn. **"There is a lot of noise…"**

"It's nothing," I said weakly, not believing I was talking to a _deer_ for crying out loud. "We're just making a lot of useless noise."

"**Oh,"** It stated before turning around and walking off. As soon as it disappeared from sight I ran over to Bjorn and began shaking him violently.

"A deer just talked to me!" I yelled at him. He winced, glaring a little at me.

"Yes? And?" He deadpanned.

"Deer don't talk!" I nearly screeched at him.

"And did you truly believe talking to Kisa is any different?"

"Huh?" I stopped, a blank look crossing my face.

"I'm saying my secondary gives you the ability to talk to beasts. _All_ beasts. Not just the odd human who turns into a beast," He stated in amusement.

Suddenly feeling very foolish, I kicked a pebble. "I… I just hadn't realized it until now. It's very unnerving to hear something like that talk…"

"**It sounds kind of fun to me,"** Kisa supplied. **"I've always wanted to know why dogs like to roll on dead things."**

I guess it did sound interesting… I just needed to get used to yet another thing turning my life upside down. I sighed at the thought. Too many crazy things started happening to me when I ran away from daddy and my previous life. But I truly couldn't think of any other way I would be happy other than with my friends, now including Kisa and Bjorn in addition to Fairy Tail.

"Now that that's settled," Bjorn stated before lunging at Kisa with no warning. They tumbled in the grass, snapping at each other. Apparently, we were still sparring. This went on for a minute, Bjorn managing to scratch a shallow cut on Kisa's back leg. She yelped, pain transforming to look of realization as she leaped over Bjorn. I barely had time to think before Kisa bowled me over, laying a huge clawed paw across my neck threateningly.

Bjorn sniggered. "Okay, okay. You win for now," And Kisa changed back into a human, looking at me apologetically.

"Now then, Lucy. Would you please…?" Bjorn gestured toward himself.

"Oh," I muttered. He looked at me expectantly. "Oh!" I allowed him to change back.

"Now," He sprinted toward us before throwing a punch at me. I didn't manage to dodge and yelped as he hit my arm. "Time to improve both of your reflexes."

The next three weeks passed quickly in the same manner as when we had been training with the stones. We would alternate training using magic or sparring physically, trying to dodge Bjorn and land a hit sometimes on the cocky spirit. Both of our magic grew stronger dramatically. Soon, we were sparring with Kisa in her Ohju form and Bjorn fighting earnestly against her as she soon discovered that form's power over wind. She could summon gales to knock Bjorn off his feet and my own magic grew to where Bjorn could change forms multiple times every day with little problem. Both of us were exhausted still, but it was no longer due to using up too much magic in one instance.

"I think…" Bjorn started. It was the morning of our twenty-seventh day since escaping from the slavers. I was in a great mood for some reason; I think I slept well the night before. But the next comment made me happier than I had felt in weeks. "We have the means to cross the ocean."

I dropped the fruit I was eating and Kisa gasped excitedly. "Really?" She nearly squealed in happiness.

"Yes, I think we have the means. Especially now that you can maintain my Roc form for more than an hour," I grinned at that. Just yesterday, I had been able to transform Bjorn for two hours into a gigantic bird, even larger than Kisa as an Ohju. It had been a major accomplishment Bjorn said, it was among his strongest forms that could fly.

"So now we just need to know which way to go…" Kisa rambled. I hadn't seen her this ecstatic in a while. The last few weeks were filled with distractions and each other's company, but we were both lonely without our friends back in Fiore.

"So we need a map like you suggested a long time ago," Bjorn looked at her fondly. "I have never found one in the estate I stole from, so we need to go to another city."

"Maybe one with a library?" I asked. That's where I would look.

"Smart girl," Bjorn purred. "So we should start traveling a bit. And keep a look out for a big city with a library."

"But let's head away from Port Lauda," I offered. We had found out the name of the town we were going to be sold to. It still made me nauseous to think about what could have happened…

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Ugh…" Kisa shuddered. She shared my distaste for the horrible place.

Bjorn bowed slightly in agreement. He turned toward a mountain range to the west, judging by the position of the sun. "Well, then let's go. Ready?" We were. Kisa and I jumped to our feet and picked up the remainder of our meager supplies. We left the clearing we had lived in for almost a month, not once looking back. "You both do realize we'll be continuing our training on the way there?"

Kisa and I groaned simultaneously.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Wow, I updated much more than I thought I would. Thank you as usual for reading and I would really appreciate any feedback you care to leave me.


	8. Chapter 7: Return

Just to let people know, I updated chapter 6 right after chapter 5 so you might have missed it. Last update for the weekend! This is where I may take a bit longer between updates; I'll try for at least one or two a week. As usual, thank you for reading and I do not own Fairy Tail or anything really. I really appreciate those of you who took the time to review or tell me about errors you found. Thank you so much!

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

**-Lucy-**

We learned three important things in the days we spent travelling well-worn roads in search of a city large enough to contain a library.

First, we did not speak the language. The few people who spoke ours were slaves, confused why we foreigners did not have the scarred brand on our foreheads to mark us as they were.

Second, we were unwelcome in this country. That suited me just fine until I realized that few people would help us and in fact, most would hinder us at any opportunity. Kisa and I had taken to wearing cloaks at all times to hide our faces, just to avoid the critical yet curious stares of the townsfolk.

The third was to always keep Bjorn around as an intimidating animal. He was currently a large wolf, growling menacingly at the three men who drunkenly yelled at us. We had learned this when we encountered two farmers who had attacked us, trying to steal whatever we had. I still hoped that was all they had wanted; the alternative was too terrible to think about. Bjorn had been resting as a mouse, out of sight in my pocket, when he heard our screams of surprise. After chasing the men off as a bear, we knew it would be practical to always have him as a barrier between ourselves and the desperate citizens of this country.

"I hope that old man knew what he was talking about," Bjorn grumbled under his breath.

I hoped so too. He was one of the first kindly people we had found in this nation. A frail and elderly slave, he had invited us to his small hut for tea. We told him stories of Fiore when he asked, eyes glazing over wistfully as we talked. He had said he was stolen from his life years ago as a young man and he pledged to help us in any way he could. We offered to take him with us when he directed us in the direction of the capitol city, but he had sternly refused. He had grown attached to his young master in recent years and was reluctant to leave the young boy to his father, the old man's master. Plus, we would have surely been followed for aiding an escaped slave.

The city was enormous, stone streets littered with debris. People ran around, resuming their normal routine while ignoring the multiple beggars pleading on the street corners. Multiple vendors sold their wares in makeshift stalls, colorful cloth catching my eye.

"_That pattern would make a cute top…"_ I thought longingly. I disliked wearing such plain stuffy clothing. Kisa and I were dressed in similar gray trousers, green shirts, and hooded brown cloaks. They were they clothes Bjorn had stolen for us long ago and were frayed with use by now. I used to think I could look cute in anything, but these clothes were hard for anyone to pull off. _"We look like vagrants,"_ I mused. I couldn't wait to get home and pull on a pair of heeled boots and a miniskirt.

"Any ideas on how to look for a library?" Kisa asked quietly, trying to ignore the lewd looks the drunken men were sending us. Again, I was grateful Bjorn was there with us.

"It's usually in a nicer part of the city. They're normally a huge grand building in a town square of sorts," I recounted, thinking back to the library in Magnolia. A rush of homesickness overwhelmed me at the memory but I forcefully pushed it away. It was of no use here, we would be home soon anyway. _"I hope…"_

"That's in Fiore," Bjorn muttered quietly, careful not to let other people hear. "But it's as good a place as any to start."

We roamed throughout the town for hours, looking for any place that looked as if it could contain a map. It was no question that we would not ask strangers for directions. Even if they could speak our language, it would draw unwanted attention to the fact that there were foreigners looking for a library. After wandering around a nicer part of the city, we finally came across a building that was almost certainly a library. It was a grand white building, a mural engraved with a book adorning the face of the structure. People strolled in and out of the double doors indicating the entrance.

Gulping nervously, I stepped toward the doors. Trying to look inconspicuous, we walked slowly into the library.

"Oi!" A shrill voice called. Looking around, I could see a woman in a navy blue uniform stalking toward us. She was looking pointedly at Bjorn as she wagged her finger in my face. She said something quickly and irritably and though I didn't understand her language, I immediately understood the message: No dogs allowed.

I leaned toward the spirit, whispering in his ear. "Find someplace to change and sneak in," I told him. He woofed, turned around, and sped off toward an alley.

The woman huffed and walked away, muttering something under her breath. Kisa gave me a sheepish grin and we walked to a less crowded part of the library.

"How are we going to find a map in here?" She wondered. I felt a small tug at my consciousness that I had learnt to associate with Bjorn asking for magic. I complied and turned my attention back to Kisa. "We can't even read in this language," She frowned.

"Well… A map would probably be in a more used section… Why don't we split up and look for anything resembling a map?" I suggested. It was the best I could think of. "You start on that side," I pointed to the far end of the library. "And I'll start here and let Bjorn know when he gets here. Just… pick up a book, flip through it, and put it back if you don't see a map."

She nodded and ran to the back of the library. I sighed. This would take forever. I turned around and looked at the first shelf. It had hundreds of books on it alone and the library had hundreds of identical shelves. I sighed again, picking up the first book that grabbed my attention. How were we going to find a map in all this?

"Miss me?" A voice called from the top of the shelf. Bjorn sat perched on the wooden surface, chirping quietly in amusement at my scowl. He was in the form of a small brown sparrow now, blending in well with all the sepia tones that predominated in the library.

"Yes, now would you mind helping?" I asked sweetly. He cocked his head.

"Help? What can I do to help?" He seemed curious.

"Just fly around, look at what people are reading. If you see a map, grab it or tell me so I can grab it. Sound okay?" I was proud of my idea.

"Sure, good luck!" Bjorn called, flapping his wings to perch on a shocked young boy's head.

I grinned. Bjorn was quite entertaining when he wasn't trying to tease me. I turned back to my task. Flipping absentmindedly through the thick book in my hands, I moved on to the next one. And the next.

Dozens of books later, I was quickly getting irritated. _"How is this so freaking difficult?"_ I mentally screamed. I sat down for a quick break, wanting to clear my mind to start again. I noticed a small rodent scurrying among the books, straight across from me. It was mouse-like with long tufts of fur sticking from its ears and a black tipped thick tail. The long prehensile tail wrapped around a candlestick as it hung upside down to swing to a lower shelf. I giggled at the tiny acrobat, which froze as it heard me.

"Oh! Sorry about that," I told it, using my ability from Bjorn. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"**That's alright!"** A high-pitched voice in my head chattered excitedly. **"I've never heard a human talk before! And I've lived here my whole life!"** It squeaked.

"Really?" I asked, a crazy thought occurring to me. "Would you mind helping me then?"

"**Sure! Sure!"** It jumped excitedly. I grinned at how cute the little guy was.

"I'm looking for a map; do you know what a map is?" It shook its head no. "Oh… Well, it's a picture. Usually with some symbols like this," I drew a kind of compass in the dust next to the little mousey fellow. "They show where places are on paper."

"**Oh! Oh!" **He performed a neat back flip. **"That sounds like the things near my house! I see people looking at things like that all the time from my balcony!"**

"Really?" I gasped, barely believing my luck. "Could you take me there?"

"**Well…"** The mouse shuffled shyly. ** "Okay!"** And he sped off toward the middle of the library. I ran to chase after him, barely seeing him turn left at a certain bookcase. Not wanting to lose him, I barreled around the corner and knocked a small boy down in the process. Quickly shouting an apology, I resumed my chase after the tiny mouse. Rounding another corner, I thought I lost him. Shoulders slumped in defeat; I turned to walk away before, **"Yoohoo!"** I heard a small voice call.

My head snapped up to see the mouse swinging by his tail from a chandelier. "Hey!" I waved, then realized how foolish I looked to the other guests in the library.

"**Those, right?"** He chirped excitedly, pointing to the shelf on my left. I grabbed a book, quickly flipping through it before coming upon a map of the city.

I had found the right section! "T-thank you!" I gasped in excitement, vowing to never squeal in terror again at another mouse in my apartment.

"**Anytime miss!" **He winked before swinging to the top of a shelf and scurrying away. I realized with a laugh that the chandelier must be his balcony.

I dug through different maps for ten minutes before finding two that would be most useful. I discretely ripped them from the books, whispering a quick apology to the librarian, and tucked them into my shirt. Replacing the damaged books, I casually walked away to find Kisa and Bjorn.

I found Kisa sitting on the floor, a pile of books all around her. She looked up at me hopefully. "Any luck?" She asked.

"Yeah, I got them. Now we just need to find Bjorn," I helped her up and began to put back some of the books she had removed from the shelves. We were just about finished when an earsplitting crash and shriek of fury sounded from the front doors. Kisa and I looked at each other apprehensively before sprinting toward the library entrance. The sight that met our eyes nearly made me collapse in a fit of giggles.

The strict, uptight woman who had kicked Bjorn out as a wolf was screaming furiously at a small brown sparrow. It was cheeping loudly as it fluttered overhead, dodging the broom she held high above her head to knock it out of the air. It was definitely Bjorn, he was laughing so hard he was forgetting to tweet like a bird at times. The library worker looked absolutely livid as she shouted curses toward the small bird.

"Let's leave!" I heard Kisa shout loud enough for Bjorn to hear, and she dragged me out of the library to escape the growing crowd. We walked to a small alleyway, and dissolved into a fit of giggles as soon as we were out of earshot.

Bjorn landed on the ground next to us a few seconds later.

"What did you _do_?" Kisa gasped between laughs.

He ruffled his feathers. "The old goat was in need of cheering up. She looked just so uptight…" He snickered. "I just… _brightened_ her day a bit. How was I supposed to know she'd hate a present that much?"

"A present?" I questioned.

"Let's just say… It's the kind of presents from birds people hate the most," He snickered again, this time more evilly.

"Oh Bjorn, you didn't…" Kisa laughed weakly.

"Bird shit washes out of hair easily, right?" He cackled as I rolled my eyes.

We quickly left town after that, excited that we would never need to see the squalid city again. Though the area we had found the library was well kept and clean, much of the city was rundown and overcrowded. It was highly apparent how different the rich and poor fared. I spread the maps in front of us, one page depicting the country of Enca in this nation's language, but that wasn't my priority. I was really proud of the two pages that made up the other map, showing this entire section of the world including Fiore, in a language I was slightly familiar with. I had never been happy daddy had made me learn Minscan before this moment.

"I can read this one," I pointed to the larger world map. "But we need to find out where we are in Enca before we can plot a route. That's why I took this one too." I pointed to the smaller map.

Kisa scrunched up her nose and looked at it. "Well, that old man had said this city was the capital. It's probably this symbol here," She gestured at an intricate star shaped symbol on the map. "And that would make sense because it's near a mountain range like we are."

"So, we'd need to head north east to find the coast with the narrowest expanse of ocean between here and the country over the sea…" Bjorn mused.

"Which is…" I looked at the larger map. "The nation of Sin. From there, we could go north." I traced the route on the map with my finger. "It would be a bit roundabout, but we would avoid the desert and not need to cross as many bodies of water."

"I don't mind the desert…" Kisa mumbled. I could tell she wanted to get home as badly as I did. "We could fly over it at night when it's not too hot and rest during the day."

"What about water?" Bjorn pointed out dubiously.

"If we stick to the coastal areas, we can find water. It's the center that we'd have trouble with," I stated. "All in favor of the desert route?" All three of us raised a hand; Bjorn hesitant, but agreeing in the end. "Confirmed!" I shouted joyfully. "So here's our route," I traced a line using a bit of charcoal from our small campfire. "We head northwest and cross the ocean into Sin. From there, we cut across that country to the northwest and fly over another ocean to Desierto. We follow the coastline west until we hit the large inlet of ocean there. Then we fly over to Mins! I know the language there so we can ask for directions from that country. Any questions?" I grinned. It would take a long time, but we would manage. Flying would cut down that time immensely and we could switch between Kisa's Ohju form and Bjorn's Roc form to fly for a lot longer.

"Nope, let's leave first thing tomorrow." Kisa smiled, stretching her arms high over her head. "I've been dying to stretch my wings."

**-Kisa-**

Flying just felt incredible. The wind lifting my fur and feathers, the way clouds condensed into dew on my eyelashes, it was pure bliss. To not attract attention while we were travelling, I was forbidden to turn into an Ohju while in Enca. We had finally left the dreadful place this morning and I reveled in the knowledge I would be flying as long as I liked. I closed my eyes and let out a contented chirrup, having missed this freedom while traveled on the roads of Enca. I soared even higher, wanting to dive and twist in the air. Of course I wouldn't, considering I had passengers. Lucy gripping tightly to my back, wrapped in a length of rope that coiled around my neck. Bjorn was much more relaxed, lying on his back between my shoulder blades. We had been flying for a few hours, guided by the compass spell Lucy had stolen from a shop in the capitol. Every so often, she would tap one of my sides letting me know to turn a little when she checked the direction.

I was starting to tire; I had never flown for so long. Although I enjoyed this immensely, I was going to need rest soon. I was just about to mention this to Bjorn when I noticed something on the horizon.

"**Land!"** I called, hoping my friends could hear me over the roar of the wind. I could last until then with no problem. We flew for a few more minutes before the beach was clearly visible. I slowed down and began my descent to earth. I landed as lightly as I could on the sandy bank, but could tell I had jolted Lucy and Bjorn a bit much. I winced as Lucy rolled off my back, dangling from my neck by the rope tied around her waist. Bjorn instantly began laughing as she flailed.

"Bjorn!" She yelled angrily. "Get me down from here! Stop laughing at me!" She was nearly hysteric by now as Bjorn continued to laugh at her predicament. "Stop laughing you jerk and fucking get me down!" I lowered my neck as far as I could, her feet finally able to touch the ground. She was staring furiously at the still laughing spirit as she untied herself from the rope.

"Hahaha, I-I'm sorry!" Bjorn gasped for breath. "I just didn't expect you to be scared of heights!"

"I'm not!" Lucy snapped. "It's just… Flying freaks me out a little! I'm not used to it like you two…"

I changed back to my usual self, rope falling around my feet. "It's true Bjorn," I stated. "Stop laughing at her, it was her first time flying. Anyone would be freaked out their first time."

"Ahh, like a certain someone who obliterated a tree for her first landing?" Bjorn teased. He was in an infuriatingly good mood…

"Yes…" I mumbled embarrassment. _"I was hoping they forgot about that…"_ I thought, heat radiating from my flushed face.

"Well, I'm hungry. What's for lunch?" Lucy interrupted, obviously changing the subject. I smiled at her gratefully.

"Well you two have eaten through almost the rest of our food stores," Bjorn tapped him chin thoughtfully. "Shall I… ah, 'liberate' some more?"

"No!" Lucy yelped. "We have no excuse to steal anything now that we aren't in Enca. Let's just find our own food…" She mumbled.

Bjorn chuckled. "Humans and their morals."

"What were you thinking of doing?" I asked curiously.

"Well…" Lucy began. "I was thinking… Fishing."

* * *

><p>"<strong>Ha!"<strong> I yelled in triumph. I brought another fish to the small pile next to Lucy's campfire. I had turned out to be quite the efficient fisher cat. I sat crouched on a protruding tree trunk, waiting patiently over the river we had set up camp next to. Once I saw a sizeable fish, I would leap into the water and quickly change into a medium sized, golden furred cat with black rosettes Lucy had called an Ocelot. More often than not, I would catch my unsuspecting prey.

"That should be plenty Kisa!" Lucy called as I swam to the river bank. She had given up fishing with her makeshift lure when she saw how well I did and instead tended the fire to cook. Fish were currently sizzling over the fire and I nearly drooled at the appealing smell. I changed back to normal, dripping wet and now completely ravenous.

"Here," Lucy handed me the first fish, smiling. I dug in quickly, almost swallowing a small pin bone in my haste. I nearly missed the forlorn look on Lucy's face as she stared into the fire. "What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

She jumped slightly. "I was just thinking…" She paused for a second. "Natsu and Happy would have loved this. Happy would love the fish and Natsu would probably eat the fire even if I told him not to…" She trailed off sadly. I patted her shoulder, reassuring her she would see them again soon. I don't think she noticed, but I had and Bjorn had picked up on it too. She was constantly talking about Natsu, thinking about Natsu, missing Natsu; she talked about him more than anyone else in her guild. No matter how much she called him an idiot, it was clear she cared deeply for this person I had never met. I wondered if she was as oblivious to this as she seemed but decided to not press the issue. We both were homesick enough without adding more confusion to her relationships.

We had finished eating by this point, Lucy staring at the small campfire watching it fizzle out.

"Come on," Bjorn interrupted her musing. "Time to travel. Lucy, if you please?"

He immediately blurred and grew larger, growing wings and talons. Feathers sprouted and a cruel beak formed on his face. Red plumes sprouted from his forehead and tail and the transformation was complete. In his Roc form, Bjorn leaned down and allowed Lucy and I to clamber to his back, tying ourselves to his neck so we wouldn't fall off. "You two get some rest," Bjorn rumbled tenderly, flapping his wings and taking to the air. Full and sleepy, I complied.

* * *

><p>The next couple months passed in a similar way. We switched traveling duties, following the route Lucy had mapped out back in Enca. We stopped often for water and to forage for food. Our diet was predominantly fish and plants as I refused to eat meat. Lucy and Bjorn had snorted in disbelief at that ('A vegetarian cat!' they had laughed). It was much slower than traveling by ship which would be constantly moving as long as the weather was favorable. We had to rest, find food and water, and make sure we were going in the right direction. These things took time unfortunately, and though we were constantly on the move it was winter by the time we were ready to cross the last ocean between us and home. Nearly seven months after our kidnapping took place. Now we were almost home.<p>

"**You ready?"** I asked elatedly over the howling wind as we sped over the ocean.

"Of course!" Lucy cried happily. We were so close it was intoxicating. Even Bjorn was humming in content, caught up in our good mood.

We had been flying for hours, passing over islands as we flew north towards Fiore. My stamina when flying had increased dramatically, as had Lucy's ability to keep Bjorn in larger forms. I had to admit, we were both quite powerful by this point. _"I wonder if Alan will be surprised?"_ I thought wistfully. I was so excited to see him again it hurt.

"Kisa, wait!" I heard Lucy yell. I stopped flying forward and hovered, flapping my wings to keep us airborne. "I know that island!" She continued, gesturing towards a crescent shaped island below us. "Let's take a quick stop there; I want to see some people I know."

I grunted in agreement and glided down to the beach. We landed, a lot more smoothly than our first flight together I was happy to point out to the others, and I changed back to a human. Lucy ran ahead, leading us to an overgrown path and we jogged to keep up with her.

"Where are we Lucy?" Bjorn called ahead.

She turned around briefly and answered, "Galuna Island! I've been here before on a mission!"

We kept running and came to a large fenced enclosure. The gate looked intimidating as two demons were guarding it with bored looks on their faces. Until one of them saw Lucy.

"Lucy!" The purple one gasped. "Is it really you?"

"Bobo!" Lucy ran up to him, panting. "It's been a long time! How have you been? How is your father?"

"Fine, fine. We're all fine…" He looked like he was looking at a ghost. "But Lucy… What happened to you?"

"Huh?" She blanched. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know?" Bobo continued in shock. "Come on in. Guard the gate for me Lola?" He directed at the green demon next to him who nodded. "Your friends can come in too."

Bjorn in his wolf form and I followed them inside and the large wooden gates closed with a crash. I looked around nervously. There were a lot of people in this village, all of them demons. Lucy had told us about them before, but it was still an intriguing experience. As I looked around in awe, the demon called Bobo knocked on the door of an intricate hut.

"Come in!" A croaking voice barked and we obeyed the command.

I had a glimpse of a stooped old figure before the village headman burst into excited tears at the sight of Lucy. "Lucy my girl! You've returned!" He went over to hug her. She looked pleased but confused.

"It's good to see you too Moka…" She started. "But how did you know I was gone? No offense, but we didn't exactly keep in touch often."

"Ah, yes. Of course you wouldn't know," The old demon croaked. He simply pointed to a piece of paper on the table. The three of us walked over to it curiously before Bjorn and I burst into laughter.

It was a wanted poster. Or a reward poster. It had a picture of Lucy in a bikini, winking at the camera. Under it, the words said _'Lost stellar spirit mage! Name is Lucy Heartfilia, favorite color is blue! Huge reward if any clues about her! Please direct all information to Fairy Tail guild!'_

As Lucy stared at the poster, Moka continued. "Yes, that young fire mage and his cat friend have been spreading these everywhere looking for you. Your whole guild has been scouring this side of Fiore trying to find out where you had gone." I looked at Lucy. Her eyes were filled with happy tears and she had a half grin on her face. It was touching to see how far her friends would go to find her.

"I-I-I can't…" She stuttered. "Th-they're such…" And she promptly burst into tears.

We let her cry. She held on to Bjorn and sobbed for a bit into his neck. She looked up, embarrassed, eyes puffy and red. But she looked ecstatic.

She jumped to her feet, complex emotions darting across her face. "Sorry Moka, Bobo. We've got to go now." They nodded in understanding. We ran, villagers waving as we passed. "I don't want to scare them!" Lucy gasped. "They're easily suspicious. Let's fly from the ruins that way!" She gestured toward a pyramid type structure peeking out from the dense jungle.

We kept running until we reached the pyramid. "I'll fly us this time," Bjorn offered once we caught our breath. "Lucy?" He asked.

We waited. Bjorn stayed the same. "Lucy?" He asked again. She didn't answer.

I walked around to look at her face. Her eyes were blank as she stared at the temple.

"Lucy?" I asked, starting to become frantic at her lack of response.

She finally blinked. "Something's… calling me," She supplied after what seemed like an eternity.

"Calling you?" Bjorn asked hopefully. "What do you mean?"

"I-I can't explain it," She admitted. "It's like… My instincts are telling me to go in…"

"Never ignore your instincts," Bjorn quipped. "We should look around for a bit."

"I've already been here before," Lucy protested, though she was walking into the temple already. "It's the place Lyon tried to free Deliora with Moon Drip-"

"Moon Drip!" Bjorn exclaimed, cutting her off. "Lucy, your instincts are amazing. I'm never doubting you again. Now where is she?" He trailed off, looking around expectantly.

"Who is she?" I asked before stopping in my tracks. I smelled… something. It smelled similar to Bjorn actually… I followed it, pressing my nose to a solid wall as Lucy and Bjorn stared at me curiously. "Something's here…" I frowned.

Bjorn took the shape of a Vulcan. Walking up to the wall, he wound back his fist and punched a hole straight through it. Lucy crawled through first as Bjorn changed back, I clambered in after her. A small pedestal rose out of the floor in the otherwise plain room. Lucy cautiously walked over to it, reaching for something on the stone pillar. Light exploded from whatever Lucy had tried to touch. I shielded my eyes from the aurora streaming from the pedestal, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Why hello Bjorn," A peculiar voice said. It seemed to echo in a strange manner with every word she spoke. "It's been a long time."

"So it has," Bjorn purred in content. "I thought we'd find you here, Chrona the Temporal Witch."

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Finally back to Fiore! And a new character too! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. All country names and the map I used were taken from Hiro Mashima himself so as usual, I own nothing. The map is available online if you google it in case you're curious. Thank you for reading as usual! I hope this isn't moving too quickly, slowly, or if I skipped over portions you would have liked to read about.


	9. Chapter 8: Premonition

Thank you Marina Rose, Senbei x Cup Ramen, Footster26, and an anonymous reviewer for your reviews! I'm glad you all seem to like it so far, I really appreciate your taking the time to review. I have another quick question for anyone interested in giving your opinion. How do you feel about inserting a song in the story? I have one in mind that I am considering using, but I don't know how people feel about songs in fanfics in general. Just wanted some input in case people are interested, I don't know how I feel about it just yet. I own nothing and thank you for reading!

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

**-Lucy-**

I gaped at the figure floating above me. She was chuckling at something, oblivious to the remaining occupants in the room.

"Yes, yes," Bjorn flicked his ear in annoyance. He rolled his eyes at the female spirit who now snorting with laughter. "Your joke was amusing. Now how long are you going to-"

"Joke?" Kisa frowned. "What joke?"

"L-Long… Time!" She guffawed, gasping for breath. I took a closer look at the strange spirit. She floated in the air as though she were sitting on the ground, legs crossed as she held her bare stomach in laughter. Unlike Bjorn, she resembled a human for the most part with dark skin and long black hair braided over her left shoulder. The spirit was dressed in puffy pink leggings and a small red vest that barely covered her… rather large breasts. Bigger than mine even I had to admit…

"_But she is definitely not human,"_ I thought with certainty. _"Even without the floating, she would never pass for a human." _Despite laughing so hard, her eyes were wide open and she had not blinked once while we waited for the giggling to die down. Her voice was strange as well. It echoed with itself, as though she had many voices saying the same thing at small intervals. But the most concrete evidence to her identity as non-human was her eyes. Containing every color of the rainbow, much like the aurora that had announced her presence, they flashed and sparkled blindingly. I could not bring myself to look at her eyes for more than a few seconds.

I turned my attention to Bjorn as a distraction. "How did Moon Drip tip you off that she was here anyway?"

"Because of the nature of that spell," He stated dryly. "It takes power from the moon and any magic of the surrounding area, in this case residue from Chrona's presence. Since her domain is time, this concentration of power had the ability to move forward a spell's time. When the spell has been given enough time in the form of magic, it breaks apart as it would from centuries of sitting around. The more powerful the spell, the more Moon Drip must be invoked to accelerate the spell."

I nodded, it made sense after all. And the serious conversation finally seemed to get Chrona's attention.

She finally quieted and looked over at me, eyebrows raised. "So you're the one I called. Why didn't you answer the first time?"

"She couldn't Chrona," Bjorn interrupted my response. "She was under the influence of a seal until a short while ago. The first time she visited this island, she could never have felt your presence."

"You called me when I was here before?" I asked her incredulously. I hadn't felt anything like I did when we stood outside the ruins.

"Yes, but luckily I'm patient!" She grinned widely at Bjorn's snort of amusement.

"Stop kidding around," He shot at her, though a small smile adorned his face. "You can't be patient. You just appear in the present when something interesting happens. Until then, you're either looking at the past for something entertaining or lazing around."

"So _that's_ why it was a joke!" Kisa exclaimed. I must have looked as confused as I felt for Bjorn laughed as he turned to look at us. She looked at me apologetically before explaining, "She… Chrona has no actual sense of time, but just appears when she feels like it. So when she said 'long time' she was joking because to her it has been no time at all."

Chrona sent her a surprised look at her deduction. "And who are you?" She asked after a moment of contemplation.

"Um… I'm Lucy's friend," She shuffled nervously under the spirit's intense gaze. "My name is Kisa."

Chrona nodded before shifting to look at me. I looked away uncomfortably as her eyes scanned my face. "You must be Lucy after all…" Her echoed voice trailed off sadly. "I'm sorry for your mother, she was a wonderful person."

I was stunned at her admission. "You knew my mother?" I blurted out.

"Ah-ah-ah," Chrona shook her head. "I mustn't say any more. I promised."

I swallowed as a knot formed in my throat. Mama was connected to these spirits. There was no way I wasn't going to find the other sanctum stellar spirits now!

"That's rather unfair…" Kisa mumbled, looking at my tortured expression with worry. I smiled gratefully, but decided to drop the subject. I hadn't gotten any information from Bjorn about my mother so I assumed Chrona wouldn't tell me either.

"So, would you like to form a contract?" I asked Chrona carefully. I assumed she did since she sought me out but I had to be sure.

"Yes," The spirit affirmed, immediately handing me her key from the pedestal. It was as white as Bjorn's but in place of his symbol, a green twisted tree, a multicolored aurora was stamped on the handle. It resembled a stained glass window mounted in a cathedral and was just as beautiful. I took it shakily, not expecting the jolt of power that flowed from me to my new spirit. Black spots danced in my vision and I stumbled forward in exhaustion.

"Chrona!" Bjorn yelled angrily. "She can't deal with two of us out at once in addition to making a new contract! What were you thinking?" He turned hurriedly to me. "Quick! Close my gate! Talk with her a bit," He commanded as Kisa rushed to my side. My friend placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder and I took a deep breath to steady myself. I complied with his order and immediately felt better as he faded from view. Shaking more from shock than exhaustion now, I got back up on my feet to face my new spirit.

"So…" I started carefully. I wasn't sure how to deal with Chrona yet so I decided to be cautious. "It's nice to meet you. Chrona the Temporal Witch was it?"

"That's my full title, yes. Just call me Chrona," She eyed me in amusement.

"You know…" Kisa started. "That was a rather underwhelming way to form a contract."

"Just because it isn't flashy doesn't mean it's not a powerful, binding contract," Chrona retorted simply. "Simple is sometimes better."

"If that was so simple, why did you have such a dramatic appearance? The flashy lightshow?" Kisa asked in disbelief.

"Because it's fun," The spirit cackled, her dark face caught in a bright smile. Kisa rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Well, what power do you have anyway?" I asked, trying to relieve the tension between the two. "Is it the same as when we weren't contracted? Time travel and stuff?"

"No, it's not. I'm impressed you knew to ask that," Chrona stated in surprise. "It's slightly different from when I was a free spirit." She chuckled again at the small joke.

We waited while the spirit crossed her legs again to form a sitting position in the air_. "She still hasn't blinked once since she appeared."_ I noticed before bringing my thoughts back to the situation at hand.

"I can stop or slow down time for you and any person you are in physical contact with," She continued when she was comfortable. "It's extremely tiring for you and the effects only last as long as you channel magic towards me. I wouldn't recommend trying it just now since you seem a bit tired, but you'll have to find out the conditions yourself."

"How?" I gaped at my newest spirit. That seemed really cool!

"Practice makes perfect…" Chrona trailed off.

"What about the secondary ability?" I continued, wanting to know. Chrona yawned, eyes beginning to close for the first time. Something strange was happening with her now.

"It's the ability… to see… a…" She managed to mutter before her eyes closed and she let out a huge snore.

I looked at her snoozing in disbelief. _"Did she really just fall asleep mid sentence?"_

"Hey!" Kisa called to her, shaking the floating person's shoulder a bit. "Wake up!"

I tried too but it didn't make any difference. Chrona was completely dead asleep. "Why are all my spirits weird?" I moaned. "Natsu and Happy must be right. I must be a weirdo for attracting all these weird spirits…"

"I wonder where Alan is…" Kisa whispered, slightly leaning against my shoulder while we stood in front of the sleeping Chrona. I nearly winced at the desperate, longing tone she had while she talked about the man she missed so much.

But now I was really curious. Chrona was still summoned even though she was asleep. Should I try and invoke my ability to test it out? _"What harm could it do?"_ I thought brightly before using my magic in the same manner as when I wanted to speak to beasts.

Light immediately exploded all around. I couldn't see anything and by the yelp I heard from Kisa, I assumed the same had happened to her. The only sensation I had was the slight pressure of Kisa against my shoulder as I watched the world seem to dissolve before my eyes. _"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea,"_ As soon as that thought crossed my mind, images seemed to coalesce back into the physical world around us.

"W-What happened?" Kisa gasped as the bright light faded to where we could again see each other and our surroundings.

"S-Sorry!" I panted back, still shocked at the experience. "I used my ability without thinking it through! I wanted to know what it… was..." I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

We were standing in Hargeon town, the familiar port town where I had first met Natsu and Happy as well as the same port we used to sail to Galuna Island the first time. I recognized the buildings and the docks we stood near, most still looked brand new from the repairs following Natsu's destruction of half the town. A sigh sounded right beside the two of us I turned to look at the source of the sound.

"A-Alan?" Kisa choked out, her grip on my arm painfully tightening.

I looked at the person Kisa was staring at in disbelief. He hadn't seemed to hear her as he continued to stare at the sunset falling into the sea longingly. He was of average height and build from what I could see. Long, dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail that seemed much neater than the man's messy bangs. A strange red glint flashed from his eyes, though they were brown when I looked again at his tanned face. He wore well-worn travel clothes and a small pack was slung over his shoulder. He sighed again and closed his eyes.

"Where is she?" He whispered and Kisa jolted next to me.

"Right here!" Kisa yelled happily, too excited to care about the strange circumstances. She reached out a hand to touch his shoulder-

And the hand passed right through Alan's shoulder without him even blinking. He couldn't see or hear us.

Kisa let out an agonized moan, grasping even more tightly to me. I was starting to think I may have bruises later but it didn't matter. This was ridiculous! She could finally see him but he didn't know we were right here!

"Guess I'll leave Hargeon town tomorrow morning… She obviously isn't here," The oblivious man mumbled despondently. "She's been gone seven months… Where could you be, Kisa?" He sounded as sad as the sobbing girl next to me.

Wait a second. Hargeon town? Seven months?

"Kisa!" I yelled in realization. She looked up at me only slightly curious, still looking crestfallen with tears running down her face. "This is Hargeon! The port city only a short boat ride from Galuna Island! If what we're seeing is happening right now, we can catch him before he leaves!"

"Then Chrona's ability might be to show things happening far away and responded to what I said before?" I nodded enthusiastically as her face lit up with anticipation. "So we can find him!" She cried, energized at the hope we might catch up with him.

"Yes!" I danced a little in happiness as Kisa laughed. "Now how do we stop this vision? I haven't been using magic since we found out we might find-"

I was abruptly cut off as the vision of the quaint port town split and crashed around us. This was completely different from before and it didn't seem like my magic was doing this. Screaming filled my ears and I grasped for Kisa's hand as a strange roaring blocked out any other noise. Red light splintered around us and Hargeon disappeared completely, replaced by that of a town I was achingly familiar with. But something was terribly wrong.

Magnolia town was burning. I gasped in shock as that registered. My home was on fire. _"Wait… My home!"_

I whirled around, knowing by heart where the Fairy Tail guild rose above the entire town. As soon as I laid eyes on my beloved guild, my heart broke and a wrenching sob escaped my throat. It was demolished, torn apart by some incredible force.

"Why…" A sorrowful voice asked softly, as though the owners' heart was breaking.

It was Mirajane. She was looking with wide eyes at a motionless corpse, red fluid staining the ground crimson as numerous lacerations bled freely from both her and the body she was hunched over. The lifeless body was bruised and broken; I could even see a shiny white bone peeking out from the person's thigh. I noticed with horror that the right arm was completely torn off, muscle and bone visible at the end of the bleeding stump protruding from the shoulder. Terrified, not wanting to but needing to, I let my gaze drift up the familiar torso to the battered face.

"E-Elfman!" I sobbed, confirming he was dead as soon as I saw the vacant stare. I ran as Mirajane wailed in pure agony, dragging Kisa along with me as I looked for a way out. This was not happening, it couldn't be!

As I ran, I could see the Master in his giant form, carting normal citizens away from the carnage. I dragged Kisa through the familiar streets and tried not to look at the bodies that adorned the once beautiful town. The sheer number of dead was overwhelming. The familiar magic of my friends could be seen at work on the rampant flames. Rain doused one house while the flames consuming another were consumed themselves, disappearing quickly with a swallowing sound. _"Natsu and Juvia are safe…"_ I thought with relief. But where were the others? As I rounded another corner, I tripped over a hard object that made a loud clang as my foot made contact. _"I could touch something?" _I thought, bewildered. Then this _was_ different from the previous vision somehow. Sprawled on the sooty street, Kisa still in tow, I looked back at what I had tripped over.

Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that met my eyes. Erza, my friend, the Titania was dead. I had tripped over her armored foot, her body impaled through with some sort of giant claw as large as I was. A poisonous mist rose from the hole in her stomach, causing flesh and armor alike to melt. Dried blood caked the side of her face, blending with her stunning red hair. She was covered with wounds, indicating she had been fighting for a long time. I tasted bile as I saw the source of the dried blood: her ear was completely severed.

I retched, emptying the contents of my stomach on the pavement. Kisa tore her horrified gaze from the body to me, unsure of what to do or say.

"AHHHHH!" I howled in anguish. What had happened? Who did this? Who dared to do this? Who else had I lost?

"See what happens?" A smooth, masculine voice echoed throughout the town. I decided I despised that voice, I wanted to murder whoever it belonged to. _He_ did this whoever he was and he was going to pay. It continued, oblivious to my newfound determination and bloodlust. "If you two had just listened to me, this wouldn't have happened. It really is your fault for having that magic."

Kisa gasped as we looked up and saw an enormous floating fortress blocked out the sky. It looked like a mountain sculpted into a castle, jagged spires rising to form evil towers. Dark rock made it seem even blacker than the night sky as it moved to obstruct the sun.

"Now, I need you two to come up here. Now," It commanded. I realized the voice was projected from the floating monstrosity. "Or more casualties will result from your stubbornness. I need both of your special forms of magic and I will have them! Now I will tell you Fairy Tail insects one last time: _Give me Kisa and Lucy!_" The last statement was hissed with such venom that I shuddered despite trying my best not to. Whoever this person was that wanted us, I was terrified to ever meet him.

"Never!" I heard a fiery voice bellow behind me. My head turned so fast I was dizzy but I didn't care.

"Natsu…" I whispered. Thousands of emotions flowed through me as I saw his defiant form glare up at the sky; happiness, relief, shock, terror, pain, remorse, and more shooting through me like electricity. He was battered like… like… Tears stung my eyes as I remembered Erza and Elfman. His arm was definitely broken, the rest of him bleeding and bruised all over. He looked so hurt…

"They just came back from Enca a year ago and you want us to give them to _you_?" He spat. "Absolutely fucking not! Just because Lucy uses the sanctum keys and Kisa uses elemental forms does not make them yours once you hear about it!"

"Lucy!" Kisa croaked. "This isn't real! It hasn't happened! This is something in the future that-"

She was cut off as light consumed us, blocking out the terrible visions of the future we had been witness to. Again, all I could hear was a roaring sound, all I could see was white light, all I could feel was Kisa's arm in my hand as I grasped her desperately. The light faded as we were gently deposited on the floor of the ruins, Chrona still sleeping peacefully as though nothing had happened.

Kisa and I gasped for breath. What I had seen was too much… It was too much to comprehend in such a short amount of time. Everyone injured or dead, Magnolia demolished, the guild destroyed, some jackass threatening us to get us to come with him…

"W-w-w-we c-c-can't…" Kisa sobbed uncontrollably as she moved over to hug me, both of us in need of comfort. I was incapable of speaking as tears flowed from my eyes; I was unable to stop no matter how much I wanted to. "W-w-we won't! We w-won't let that happen!" She declared, her voice strengthening with newfound determination.

"No… We cannot let that happen," I said as soon as I composed myself to speak without stuttering. "We won't."

"But how?" Kisa had managed to stop crying before me. She pulled away from me as I stopped clinging and composed myself.

I grimaced. "Close the gate!" I was relieved when Chrona faded from sight but I wasn't going to call Bjorn yet. I had to talk to Kisa alone and I wasn't going to take the chance that Chrona was faking being asleep. "I think you might already know."

She winced, but looked at me in resolve. I knew then that she knew exactly what I had been thinking, guaranteeing that we would be best friends after all this shit we went through together. "We need to keep our magic a secret."

I nodded. "That guy wanted our 'special form' of magic. This means my sanctum spirits and your…"

"That Natsu guy called it elemental forms…" Kisa said quietly. "But yes, we need to keep them both a secret. We have to… But what do we use for magic then?" Kisa frowned at this.

"I already have an idea for that," I grinned a little, despite the shock of the vision. "Just use your cat forms, say it's animal soul takeover like Lisanna. I'll just use my zodiac keys like I had before."

"But you shouldn't tell anyone about the complete contracts or secondary abilities…" Kisa frowned more. "This may be a bit difficult."

"But we have to do this…" I winced again at the memory. "I promise I won't let that happen. I won't use my sanctum keys or secondary abilities unless we really need to."

"I promise too," Kisa declared. We shared a grim look. "I will only talk about my true magic in your presence alone. We can't afford for whoever that was to hear about whatever he wants from us."

"Yes," I stated grimly. "You do realize we're in this together, right?"

She sent me a small smile. "I told you I wouldn't leave you behind." She referenced to our first meeting in a dingy cell.

"I'm just… I'm so happy we aren't alone," I started crying a little again, though more from relief.

"Me too," Kisa admitted. "I just hope that Alan-" Her eyes widened. "Alan! He's leaving in the morning!" She looked around frantically. "The sun's not down yet! We can still find him before morning!"

I was forcefully dragged to the entrance by the very anxious woman. It was true, the sun still peeked out from the horizon but it was nearly nightfall.

"Argh! What are we going to do?" Kisa was nearly hysterical, and I realized we couldn't fly to Hargeon town. We couldn't let anyone know, and an Ohju would be a very obvious way to reveal our new secrets…

"Bobo!" I exclaimed. Kisa turned to look at me, confused. "Bobo has a boat! He can take up to the port where we saw Alan!"

And with that, we were off. _"Please let us not be too late,"_ I thought as we trampled through the jungle back to the demon town. _ "To find Alan or to make that vision never come true."_

* * *

><p><strong>-Kisa-<strong>

I could finally see the port. We had been sailing for hours now, sailing as fast as we could toward the seaside town. Lucy lay at the floor of the boat, sleeping fitfully. She had been tired after using magic to show us those visions, so after our mad dash to find a boat she had been completely exhausted. As I shook Lucy awake, I couldn't help but worry. _"What if that wasn't really a vision of where Alan is but an illusion?"_ But that meant the second vision was only an illusion too. I would be perfectly happy if that never came to pass, in fact I would try everything in my power to prevent that from ever happening.

"Thank you Bobo!" I called over my shoulder as we docked. I felt bad about being so rude, but I was hell-bent on finding Alan as soon as possible.

"Be careful you two!" The demon in human guise called after us before turning his boat around to head home. He had been extremely kind upon finding us at his doorstep, asking for a ride. Asking no questions, he had simply packed for the overnight trip and met us on the beach. I would have to thank him again next time we met.

"Kisa! Wait for just a second!" Lucy called, stumbling sleepily behind me. I turned, fidgeting, wanting to run and find the man I missed so much these past few months.

"I'll look too, don't worry. I saw what he looked like in the vision and I'll help. Just wanted to say let's meet back at the docks at sunrise in case one of us finds him," She said hurriedly. I nodded gratefully, turned, and sped up a road looking for my… Alan.

* * *

><p>For the next couple hours, I ran around town when I could. As soon as I was too exhausted to run, I resorted to walk, gasping for breath and calling Alan's name. I met Lucy twice during our search, but she had no luck either. I was starting to panic, the sky becoming lighter with each passing minute reminding me he was leaving soon if he was here at all.<p>

"No…" My eyes felt hot with the tears I tried to hold back. Crying would not find Alan. _"Please let Lucy have found him,"_ was my only thought as I turned around to find the docks again. As I neared the shore, hope flickered in my heart. _"Maybe I couldn't find him because he was here with Lucy?"_

I began to run again, ignoring the burning in my lungs and the stitch in my chest. I had never been good at running long distances and it was showing. But I had to know, is Alan waiting there around the corner? Would I see him in the flesh for the first time in months? Could I actually touch him? Would he be happy to see me?

My heart sank. Lucy was standing there by herself, looking as remorseful as she could. I could almost feel my heart twist in disappointment. This time I didn't hold back my tears.

"Ahhh…." I mourned in anguish. I quickly lost control, loud sobs wracking my body with no signs of stopping. I had been so sure I would see him again… This realization left me more depressed than I had ever felt in my life. I cried, howled in despair. I barely registered the stunned look Lucy was giving me and just wailed in anguish again.

"…sa" A soft, faraway sound. "…isa… Kisa…" This time, I could recognize my name in the echoing call. And it sounded hauntingly familiar.

Immediately, my crying stopped and I looked around wildly. That was Alan's voice! Where is he? As I became convinced I had finally gone crazy, I spotted a small figure next to the town's lighthouse on top of a cliff. It was him. I finally spotted him, waving down from his perch on the cliff.

"Hold on! I'll be right down!" He called wildly, running down a path leading from the lighthouse to the docks below. He stumbled a couple times, not looking where he was going as he kept his face directed toward me, as though afraid I would disappear if he looked away.

I laughed and cried in relief. But there was no way I was waiting for him to come down to me. I grinned and sprinted toward him as he ran towards me, joy filling my heart. I would almost believe I had swallowed a jar of butterflies, I felt so light and fluttery. We were on the same dirt path now, I could vaguely hear Lucy running behind me and trying to catch up.

But Alan was only fifty feet away now.

Twenty feet. I could see the pure elation on his face, most likely mirroring my own.

Ten feet away. I hope I don't look as goofy as he does, a wide grin nearly splitting his face in half.

I couldn't take it anymore. Not slowing down like he was starting to, I barreled straight toward him full speed. Tackling him in a tight embrace, we fell and rolled on the ground twice. "Oomph!" His breath rushed out to tickle my face. I just laughed, holding onto him tightly. If it were any other situation I would have moved, but I was just too overjoyed to see him to care. He was on his back, blushing and gasping for breath. I was sprawled on top of him, my face tucked into his neck and arms being crushed underneath him. I didn't care. He gave up his small protests almost at once and we just held each other, dusty and sweaty on the dirt road. I had never been happier and more content than I felt at this moment.

He was so warm under me; in fact he was nearly burning up. Worried he might be sick, I looked up at his face and immediately laughed. He was blushing completely crimson now, his face, neck, and ears a pleasant cherry hue. I had nearly forgotten how fun it was to tease him, especially when it came to his shyness at physical contact. He had a happy grin, dampened only slightly by his embarrassment. I inhaled deeply and snuggled against him a little, again realizing just how comfortable I felt in his presence.

"K-Kisa," He stuttered. Oh yeah, he was embarrassed. I should probably get up…

I lifted myself reluctantly from my comfortable position, moving to sit next to him as he rose to sit as well. I smiled at him, waiting for him to say something. He was blushing even more furiously now for some reason. _"I wonder what's up?"_ I barely had time to think before I was pulled into another hug, the first time Alan had ever instigated a hug himself.

"I missed you so much…" He whispered in my ear, his head next to mine. I actually blushed a little, knowing how shy he usually was with things like this.

He quickly released me as Lucy cleared her throat behind us. Damn, now I missed his warmth. But I was relieved to finally have found Alan again. Seeing his happy face, still sporting that goofy grin and fantastic blush, let me know he felt the same. _"I'm home."_

**-Lucy-**

"_I like this guy,"_ was my first thought, seeing him blush and release Kisa the moment I revealed my presence. I hadn't wanted to interrupt the adorable scene, but I doubted they would notice me otherwise. I honestly had never expected Kisa to lose her head like that and tackle the boy. I looked at him again. He seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve and it was completely obvious he likes Kisa. A lot. _"Oh, he's going to be so fun to tease."_

"Hey, you two… Mind me butting in a little?" I asked with a smirk. Kisa grinned happily and Alan blushed again at my comment. I knelt down next to the pair and held out my hand. "Lucy Heartfilia, but just call me Lucy. You must be Alan?" I asked jovially. He looked me in the eye, and then took my hand in a firm but not uncomfortable grip. I noticed his scarred, calloused palms and knew he had been through a lot to find Kisa.

"Yes, that's right. Pleased to meet you Lucy," He nodded respectfully and released my hand. I noticed he wasn't blushing at all now. Oh, yes… The man had a crush on my best friend it seemed.

"Let's go sit somewhere more comfortable," I declared. "I'm sure you want to know where Kisa has been?" He nodded, glancing at Kisa who was chewing her bottom lip nervously.

"Yeah," She agreed a moment later. All of us got up, I noticed Kisa had a tight grip on the edge of Alan's shirt. As we walked over to a tree to sit in the shade, she kept a hold on him. I knew why too… She was afraid. Afraid he would be insubstantial the next time she touched him and her hand would pass through him like in the vision. I wasn't the only one that noticed her small gesture.

"It's okay," Alan said soothingly. "I'm not going anywhere without you. And I'm not letting anyone take you away from me ever again." He seemed to realize what he said a second after he said it, ears turning red again. But he didn't take it back and Kisa looked up at him gratefully. "S-So why don't you tell me what happened?"

Kisa began to tell him and my thoughts drifted back to the port. _"How did she do that?"_ I couldn't figure it out. When Kisa had cried, she had sounded animalistic, non-human. _"Like an Ohju…"_ But she had never made that noise as an Ohju before, a keening desperate howl. I was sure Alan had noticed it too; he had noticed us from the lighthouse after all. I looked toward him again. _"He definitely forgot."_ He was looking at Kisa with horror as she recounted our adventure although with some… changes. We had agreed that in place of what truly happened, we would say we stowed away on ships to get back home but had to walk across the country of Mins after getting caught. It was a plausible excuse for the relatively short time it took us to return.

Kisa was really pulling off the lie well. I wouldn't be able to tell she was being dishonest if I were an outsider; there was no stuttering, flushing, or fidgeting to indicate she was telling anything but the truth. Despite this, Alan was looking at her suspiciously by the end of the tale. I couldn't figure out what had tipped him off, I couldn't see anything wrong with how she explained things. Kisa was good at lying… Possibly a little too good.

"Why don't you look at me?" Alan whispered quietly. "You haven't looked me in the eye this entire time… You're hiding something, aren't you?"

"It's nothing," Kisa responded firmly. Turning away from him so she couldn't see the worried look he was directing at her. "Don't worry about it." A long, uncomfortable pause ensued.

Alan finally sighed. "You don't have to tell me… I just," He frowned, trying to find the right words. "I'm here for you, you know?" He looked at her shyly. "If you want to talk, you always have me."

Kisa flinched slightly at the hurt in his voice, but turned to face him. "I know that… Now what have you been doing while I've been gone? Where's Polly?" She quickly changed the subject.

Alan sighed again at her not so subtle hint to drop the issue. "I've been looking for you all over the place. Polly stayed home in case you made your way back there…"

"Thanks… I was really happy when you called me you know? I missed you…" Kisa sighed remorsefully.

"I-I missed you too." He stuttered before frowning slightly. "Why were you crying anyway?"

"I couldn't find you… I looked everywhere around town and you weren't…" Kisa trailed off before her eyes widened.

"Wait, how'd you know I was in Hargeon?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Kisa started to look panicked so it was Lucy to the rescue.

Crap. I gulped, trying to find a plausible excuse. "We… Uh- We heard someone talking about you. Kisa recognized your description and went berserk trying to find you." I hoped he would buy it. He still looked doubtful but decided to not press the issue.

I groaned. This guy was sharp, he obviously knew something was up. I just had to thank our lucky stars he seemed to trust Kisa enough to let us have our secrets. They really seemed to know each other well for there to be that much trust after being separated for so long. Speaking of which…

"I miss Fairy Tail…" I sighed wistfully. Kisa gave me a startled look, jumping to her feet.

"Of course! We have to get you back as soon as possible!" She exclaimed. "How should we get there?"

"Fairy Tail?" Alan mused. "That's a long walk… Could you take a train?"

"We don't have money…" I sighed. A thought occurred to me. "Hey, Alan? Do you… I mean I'd pay you back, but do you-"

He held up his hands. "I'm really sorry, I'm pretty much broke now. I don't even have enough Jewels for a meal let alone a train ticket. I'm really sorry..." He hung his head apologetically.

"Could you fly us there? As an Ohju?" Kisa asked after a moment's consideration.

"How did you know that form was called an Ohju?" Alan asked incredulously. "And how'd you know it could fly?" He looked stunned at her admission. She gaped at him for a second before quickly recovering.

"I-It was in a book!" She squeaked. "I saw it when we were looking for a map in a library!"

"It's true!" I supplied, digging through my belonging for the map. Thrusting it in his hands, I hoped he would accept it as a reasonable excuse.

He groaned, giving a sharp look towards Kisa. "You have a lot of explaining to do someday."

She fidgeted under his gaze. "I know, but can you help Lucy? She misses her guild as much as I missed you."

He sighed and turned toward me. "I wish I could, I really do… But I kinda… can't…" He trailed off, wincing uncomfortably.

"Why not?" Kisa blanched, looking confused.

Guiltily, he looked at his feet. "I've been…. I kinda used that form to get around while I was looking for you," He glanced at Kisa. Kicking a small stick, he continued. "I accidentally… destroyed some buildings…" He winced. "Actually, a lot of buildings. I fell on them and pretty much demolished them. Now there are hunters looking for me in that form because there's a big reward out for it."

Kisa and I burst out laughing at his sheepish expression. He would make an excellent addition to Fairy Tail, we all had a slight affinity to unintended destruction. _"I should ask them… Both of them."_

"Well, we can take the train in any case," Kisa waved at us to follow her as she walked in the direction of Hargeon town again. What was she thinking?

"Wait!" I called, still laughing at Alan. "I thought we didn't have money!"

"We don't," She winked at me. "But we're exceptional stowaways, right?"

* * *

><p>The train pulled into the Magnolia Station in the late afternoon that day. We had ended up riding on the roof of the caboose, climbing aboard quickly as it left the station in Hargeon. Jumping off discretely near the back of the train, we ran from the railroad before anyone could question the three of us.<p>

"I can't believe we did that," Alan said weakly. "It was that easy to get a ride this entire time?"

"Yup," Kisa giggled at his flustered expression. "You just need to think outside the box sometimes." They followed me as I purposefully walked toward the towering building in the distance.

"Wow…" Alan stared in awe at the huge structure we were facing. "_That's_ Fairy Tail? It's huge!"

"Yup!" I chirped proudly, nearly bursting with excitement at seeing my home. And it wasn't demolished, consumed with destruction and death. It was perfect, just like I remembered. I suddenly remembered my earlier musings and turned to face my companions. "Would you two like to join?"

Kisa's face lit up with excitement while Alan looked at her intensely. "Can we? I mean," She looked at Alan. "I want to, I can't speak on your behalf."

"I'll go where you go," He affirmed quietly. She grinned at his light blush.

"That would be a yes!" She exclaimed excitedly. "What do we need to do anyway?"

"Huh?" I mumbled, thoughts focused on walking as fast as I possibly could. "Oh, nothing really. Just Master has to accept you. He usually does…"

They left me to my thoughts, perhaps sensing my anxiety. _"How is everyone? Will they remember me?" _I shook my head. Of course they would. They were my friends, my companions. But how would they react? I had gone over so many possible circumstances in the last few months, I wasn't sure what to expect anymore.

We were standing at the monstrous doors to my guild, my beloved home. My hands were finally on the door, Kisa and Alan waiting patiently a couple feet behind me. Suddenly nervous, I hesitated. _"What should I say? How should I greet everyone?"_ I couldn't bring myself to open the doors just yet, I had to compose myself!

"C'mon Lucy…" I berated myself for feeling so nervous and giddy. I was finally here. After all this time, I was finally home. Ignoring the nervous back flips my stomach seemed to be performing, I glared at the door, ready to finally push them open.

Before I could however, the doors swung open wildly. _"W-w-wait a second! I'm not ready after all!" _In the widening gap, a figure stood rigidly. My thoughts and courage left me, leaving me gaping at the figure in the door. Dark amber eyes looked over me in shock, pink hair standing straight up in front, just like I remembered.

"What is it Natsu? Why'd you suddenly get up?" A voice called from inside the main hall.

"…Lucy?" Natsu whispered hoarsely.

"N-N-Natsu!"

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Haha, a small cliffhanger here. I hope it wasn't too dark or anything… I'd love to hear what you guys think. This is more of the pace I'll be writing chapters at rather than the first ones. One chapter every weekend, maybe two if I'm not too busy. I hope you liked it and thank you for reading!


	10. Chapter 9: Fairy Tail

Thank you MaJorReader619, aphrodite931, simplyme101, Senbei x Cup Ramen, and Footester26 for your reviews! It makes me so happy to know people like this, I feel so giddy when I read your reviews. Thank you everyone who faved and added this story to their alerts too! And sorry for the cliffhanger, I kind of liked it honestly though I know it was mean. I decided to insert a song after all; you can skip reading it if you like. The song is 'I Swear' composed by Yuki Kajiura and sung by Clara Kennedy. It's a really nice song, I wasn't sure I liked it when I first heard it but it grew on me a lot. Here's a youtube link in case you're curious to hear it, http:/ www. youtube .com /watch? v= eoPOahdTRuI but just delete the spaces. I do not own this song or anything published at all for that matter. Thank you so much for reading!

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

I was frozen in place as soon as I stammered his name. Natsu was right in front of me, looking completely worn out. Dark circles adorned his wide eyes that looked me over in shock and disbelief.

I nearly flinched as his expression changed to a frightening scowl. What was he thinking? Wasn't he happy to see me? I couldn't turn away from his smoldering gaze, currently burning holes into my own eyes as he stared me down. _"Figuratively thank the stars. If he looks at me any more intensely, he might really set me on fire!"_

"Lucy?" He finally uttered in disbelief. "Is that really you?" He shot me a suspicious look. "It's not a trick? This isn't a dream?" I couldn't answer, still shell shocked at his sudden appearance. He frowned even more, raising his hand and clenching it in a fist.

Which he promptly used to punch himself in the face. He yelped in pain and clutched him nose, now looking at me still in disbelief but also… a little hope?

"It's not a dream…" He whispered. I was about to reply before he suddenly reached for me.

I shut my eyes, not daring to look. _ "I'm not ready! I haven't even rehearsed what I was going to say!"_ I mentally shouted. It was all I had time to think before I felt a feather light sensation brush my cheek and all ability to think coherently left me. It was hot, feeling like an ember from a bonfire had landed on my skin, it was _Natsu_. He increased the pressure on my face, I could now feel three fingers lightly pressing against my cheek, nearly too warm to stand but I would never back away.

"You're…" I chanced opening my eyes a little at his tone. A wide grin began to light up his face, eyes no longer haunted and suspicious. He was positively beaming with joy now, flames crackled along his skin as he stepped closer to me.

"You're really here…"

I gulped, swallowing the lump in my throat. I was home… Why had I been so nervous anyway? "I'm back."

Natsu let out a triumphant shout, halfway between my name and a roar. I yelped as he grabbed me, pulling me towards him in a tight embrace. His arms crushed me from under my armpits and around my back. I had to stand on my tiptoes in order to breath and my arms were pinned awkwardly straight out behind his back.

"N-Natsu! Put me doooww- Wahhh!" My protests were cut off as the world began spinning, colors of faces and the surrounding area melding into a whirlwind. I continued screaming, though now it was half in laughter, as I realized what had happened. Natsu was spinning around and swinging me in circles, all the while laughing like a maniac.

"Luuuccy!"

"Lucy! Is that really you?"

"You're back!"

"Lucy!"

And the world was turned upside down. I was dizzy and disoriented, but at least Natsu wasn't spinning me anymore. In fact, I wasn't being crushed in his tight embrace anymore. No, I was just being crushed as my guild continued to echo my name.

I gasped and tried to laugh as I pieced together what was going on. I could see familiar faces all around; Natsu's grinning one right next to me, Levy's crying yet smiling one a little to my left, Reedus' shy smile a couple feet above me, and I suddenly realized I was on the floor. My entire guild had tackled me in a massive dog pile.

I laughed so hard at this, tears ran town my face. This was one scenario I hadn't dreamed up but it was so… Fairy Tail.

"Luuuucccy!" A small voice yelled. I looked up to see Happy's teary face zooming towards me, the small cat bawling his eyes out. He immediately grabbed my one exposed hand in his small, furry paws and heaved with his wings. Suddenly, I could breathe and was hovering above the mountain made of my friends. Happy's face was buried in my chest as he continued to cry, his voice torn between happiness and relief.

"No fair Happy!" Natsu yelled, the mound of people exploding to leave my guild members sprawled all over the main hall. "Stop hogging Lucy!"

"Bleagh!" Happy stuck out his tongue at the irate dragon slayer. I laughed at the absurdity of it all. How could I have hesitated to come back to _this_? It was where I belonged.

*Clang*

Happy was knocked aside by the thrown goblet and I fell. Bracing myself for impact, I closed my eyes. The landing was still hard, but it definitely wasn't the floor I landed on.

"You're safe…" I heard. I realized I was caught in another embrace, this time against a suit of armor.

"Erza…" I choked. She was alive… She was okay. I returned the hug shakily, crying freely now.

Gray came over to sling his arm over my shoulder, shirtless as usual. Mirajane was next, joyously welcoming me back with tears running down her face. After her was Juvia, soaking my shirt with happy tears augmented with rain. I was passed around the guild, exchanging teary embraces and reunions with all my close guild mates. Even members like Gajeel and Fried nodded my way, welcoming me back in their own way.

"I hear one of my children has returned to us?" A large voice boomed from the second floor.

I smiled, turning away from my third welcome back hug from Natsu. "I'm home."

The small old man grinned widely, gesturing for me to follow. "I need to ask Lucy some questions now. While we talk, everyone prepare a welcome home party for our friend!"

"Yeah!" The guild chorused, immediately bustling around getting started. I walked up the stairs, gesturing for Kisa and Alan to follow. They had been standing in the entrance during the fun, amused grins plastered on their faces as they witnessed the chaos but looking unsure of what to do.

At Master's questioning glance, I confirmed his unspoken inquiry. "They'd like to join Fairy Tail."

He smiled even more widely if that was possible, moustache nearly reaching his eyes. "Make that a two-in-one party and feast!" He boomed to the guild. Everyone paused to look towards him. "A welcome home party for Lucy, and a good old welcome party for our two newest members!"

Everyone cheered again before looking at Kisa and Alan. They both were blushing but had pleased looks as they followed the Master with me.

**-Kisa-**

The overwhelming noise echoing from the main hall abruptly cut off as Alan shut the door behind the four of us. The short old man had led Lucy, Alan, and I to a small conference room near the back of the guild. He smiled amiably at me and Alan.

"Pleasure to meet you; I am the master of Fairy Tail. Now who are you?" He looked me up and down; I felt slightly uncomfortable but decided to ignore it.

"My name is Alan," Alan said quickly, stepping a little in front of me. The old man looked amused at my friend's small gesture, clearly warning him to stop staring.

"And I'm Kisa," I added, walking out from behind Alan. I could deal with a perverted old man myself after all.

"Good, good. Now," He turned to look gravely at Lucy. "What happened? Where have you been all these months?"

She sighed, looking at the old man with the silly hat with determination. "We- that is Kisa and I," She remedied herself. "We were captured to be sold into slavery at Enca."

The Master sucked in a breath. "What!" He rumbled dangerously. "Someone dared to kidnap my child to sell as a _slave_?"

I nodded with Lucy. "And it's not just us," I continued. "All the girls that have been disappearing have been caught for the same purpose."

"We _have _to help them Master!" Lucy pleaded.

He sighed tiredly. "I know, I will think of a way. I need to inform the council of this as well, they could be of some use for once…" He muttered darkly. "Why couldn't you call for help? How did you two escape?"

This was the hard part. The lie. Lucy took a deep breath before beginning. "Did Natsu and the others tell you I was teleported away before they could follow?" The old man nodded.

"The same happened to me too," I continued. "We were tied up with some sort of rope that made it impossible to use any sort of magic."

Lucy nodded. "We were all transported to a ship and sailed to Enca that way."

"Long trip…" The Master muttered. "Nearly a month if the weather's good," But he didn't inquire further on the conditions, perhaps seeing the pained look on Lucy's face. I'm sure I looked the same as she did, expression contorted in some inner torment at the terrible memories… No sun, hard wooden floors, the dread of our fate once we landed….

"Anyway!" I tried to distract myself from the memories. "I had managed to loosen the rope while on the ship," Here was the hardest part. The weakest link in the fabricated story. "I used a distraction in the marketplace they were leading us to and untied Lucy in the confusion. We managed to run away and escaped to an alleyway."

"What kind of distraction?" The Master questioned.

"A mule had gone crazy and kicked over a fruit stand in front of us," Lucy quipped, possibly a bit too quickly. But both he and Alan accepted it with no further inquiries. "We hid in an alleyway for the rest of the day. Then, we stowed away on a ship that was heading for Mins and hid on the ship for a couple days before they found us."

"Luckily they were nice enough to not kill us," I made myself shudder for good measure. "They made us work our asses off until we arrived at Mins though."

"They kicked us off there, but I'm fluent in Minscan. We asked our way around and ended up walking from the southern tip of Mins to the northern part," Lucy continued. "Once we arrived at a port in the northern part, we persuaded a trade ship to take us on their way to Galuna Island. We found Bobo and he agreed to sail us to Hargeon town. Kisa found her friend Alan there and the three of us took the train to get back here." Lucy sounded slightly nervous, the story sounding a bit recited to me. But we had stuck with our story, it was pretty much the exact same I had told Alan earlier today. The Master simply nodded sadly.

"You two have been through so much," He said tearfully. He then turned towards Alan and I. "I would be honored if you two would join our guild. Thank you for helping Lucy back to us."

Alan smiled in thanks as I nodded, blinking away tears. Everyone in Fairy Tail seemed so kind… and energetic from what I saw earlier.

"I-" I began before the door slammed open, kicked in by a man with orange-brown hair wearing a neat suit. But it wasn't a man at all I realized as his smell registered in my brain.

"Lucy!" He yelled when he spotted her, pulling her in a tight hug. "I was so worried!"

"L-Loki! What are you doing here?" Lucy stuttered in surprise.

"I opened the gate myself… I've been looking for you this whole time," He said, still hugging her close.

"_Ah, a spirit. He must be one of Lucy's zodiac stellar spirits she's told me about,"_ I thought, his scent making sense now. Having a feline sense of smell and hearing was quite advantageous sometimes.

"You didn't have to do that…" Lucy sighed gratefully. She returned his hug slightly before pulling away.

"Of course I did," His eyes twinkled mischievously. "Though I didn't find you, you came back like I knew you would. After all…" He struck a strange pose. "The power of love is invincible, even to separation!"

"O-Of course it is," Lucy sighed uncomfortably at the odd proclamation.

The spirit turned to look at Alan and I. "Hm? And who are these two?"

"Our newest guild members," Master said jovially. "Speaking of which, Lucy? Would you bring them to Mirajane so they can get their official Fairy Tail tattoos? And Loki, stay here. I'd like to talk a bit..."

"Yup!" Lucy agreed brightly. "Follow me," She told us assuredly. As we turned to leave however, my instincts alerted me to something. Danger! And it was about to reach my backside?

I immediately kicked behind me and was surprised to see Lucy had done the same. "Yeowch!" Two hands waved in pain, stretching impossibly from the old man.

"_It seems his magic is ideal for groping"_ I thought in puzzlement. Alan looked livid at the old pervert's attempt to touch our asses.

"Perverted old fart," Lucy turned away with a huff, missing the suspicious look the Master was giving us. I gulped nervously at his expression before following Lucy out of the room.

"Lucy!" A voice called from downstairs. It was Natsu, grinning happily at us while holding a huge box of fireworks. I heard Lucy gulp nervously at the combination of fireworks and the hotheaded dragon slayer. "Hurry and come on down! The party's almost ready!"

"Be right there!" Lucy called down to him. "I have a quick errand to run first."

Natsu frowned. "You're not going outside, are you? I can run your errand for you if you have to go to town or something."

"No," Lucy's face scrunched up in confusion. "I'm just taking these two to Mirajane for their tattoos."

"Oh," He visibly relaxed. "That's okay then. She's at the bar."

"And he calls _me_ a weirdo…" Lucy mumbled as he turned away. We approached the bar, a young woman with long white hair, bangs pulled into a small ponytail, smiling kindly at us. Blue eyes twinkled at something as Lucy announced we were officially members of Fairy Tail.

"Nice to meet you," She said, still smiling benevolently. "My name is Mirajane."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Alan. And this is Kisa," Alan introduced us as she pulled out a small stamp.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" She giggled happily. "Now where would you two like your marks?"

"Um…" Alan mumbled, obviously unsure.

"You can put them anywhere," Mirajane offered encouragingly. "Mine's here," She lifted her skirt to show the mark on her lower thigh.

"Mine's on my hand," Lucy showed the pink mark she had looked at so fondly while we traveled. "But really, you can put them anywhere. Bixlow even has his stamp on his _tongue,_" She shuddered.

"Well," Alan frowned in contemplation. "I guess just put it on my arm."

Lucy groaned. "That's so normal…"

I grinned as the bright crimson mark appeared on his left arm. I knew where I wanted mine, though it would definitely be a little cheesy. I pulled my shirt a little to expose where I wanted mine.

"Right here for me Mirajane," I blushed a little. She gave me a knowing look and moved to stamp where I had indicated. I admired the violet mark on my chest, right over my heart. It was one moment I was glad my breasts were quite small, it gave plenty of room.

Lucy giggled a little. "Don't worry, I understand. Fairy Tail is close to all of our hearts."

I groaned. _"That sounds even cheesier when you say it out loud!"_

"Now!" Master's voice boomed over us all. "Lucy and our new member Kisa have travelled a long way. They were captured and about to be sold into slavery in Enca before they escaped." The guild exploded in outraged voices at this declaration. "We _will_ retaliate! We _will_ make them pay!" Cheers of agreement followed this. "But first, we will celebrate their return!" More cheers. "But…" He trailed off warningly, looking around the now silent guild. "I prohibit anyone from asking what happened more than that. If Lucy wishes to talk, she will. Do NOT pester them; they do not deserve having to relive that nightmare to satisfy your own curiosity."

Lucy and I breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief. That was one less thing to worry about.

"Now, let's get this shindig started!" He roared.

"Aye!"

Everyone began eating immediately, digging into the feast they had prepared for the party. A giant banner hung from the ceiling, saying 'Welcome' in bright colors that changed every few seconds. Food started flying everywhere and Lucy laughed at the sight. She dragged Alan and I towards the table to sit next to her friends.

"Sho hvu a bu?" Natsu questioned, mouth already full of food.

"We can't understand you, flame brain. Swallow first," A dark haired mage stated blandly. "I'm Gray by the way, nice to see new faces around here."

I shook his outstretched hand. "I'm Kisa, nice to meet you too."

"And you are?" An armored woman spoke from across the table, directing the question at Alan. She looked stern, and her crimson hair matched her demeanor perfectly. I winced as I remembered her in the vision I shared with Lucy; I much preferred her living face.

"A-Alan," He stuttered timidly. He seemed as intimidated by her as I was.

"No fair," Natsu whined. "I asked them that. I'm Natsu by the way!" He stated proudly. I already knew his name from Lucy's descriptions, but I nodded politely.

"And I'm Happy! Aye!" A slightly squeaky voice shouted from above.

It was an angel. A… cat angel. I locked eyes with him as he landed on the table. He must be the Exsheed Lucy talked about. He stuck out a tiny paw, gauging my reaction carefully.

I shook it in awe, the little creature too cute for words. Then again, I had a weakness for cats but still… "Nice to meet you Happy…"

"Aye…" We stared at each other some more. Then I remembered something.

"Oh!" I dug around in my small pack, searching desperately for a certain object. Finding it, I presented it to the blue cat.

"I-Is that?" He drooled, eyes widening to a shocking size.

"A present!" I declared, handing him the small dried fish. "Sorry it's not fresh, it's all I have."

"You like fish?" He murmured in awe.

"I love fish!" I smiled at his ecstatic expression.

"Me too!" He flew in a small loop, gibbering happily about the nice cat lady.

The occupants of the table laughed at his antics, Natsu looking at me appreciatively. I laughed too, digging in to the food in front of me. We talked for a while as the food gradually disappeared into Natsu and Gray's stomachs. These Fairy Tail mages could freaking eat!

The party really started as Cana dragged out the biggest barrels of alcohol I had ever seen.

* * *

><p><strong>-Lucy-<strong>

I laughed for what seemed to be the thousandth time at the general mayhem my guild was currently engaged in. Gray was running around, completely naked, drunkenly stammering to anyone that would listen about how he could beat Happy at flying. Mirajane was giggling tipsily at Elfman wrestling with a curtain and Juvia was dangling woozily from a ceiling rafter, blurting out Gray's name at random intervals. Cana had managed to get pretty much every person in the guild drunk off their ass. Even my head was buzzing pleasantly from the several beers Cana had insisted I drink.

"Luuuuuucccccyyy…" Natsu drawled drunkenly. I tried to ignore him, sure he was about to-

Yup. That boy was going to be hurting. That was the thirteenth time he had flicked my nose, and then bolted away cackling like a maniac. This time, I punched him solidly in the jaw before he could bolt away. _"Crap. I'm a violent drunk."_

Alan was passed out on the barstool on my left. He had been drunk after one beer, unconscious after the second. He was as much of a lightweight as I suspected. This was the complete opposite of Kisa; Cana may have found a new drinking buddy. She had consumed any drink pushed on her and wasn't acting drunk at all. Her speech wasn't slurred in the least and she was as balanced as ever. She was talking animatedly with a very drunk Jet who had made her wear his hat. Laughing, she pushed it back to him and headed over to where I sit.

"Great party," She said happily.

"Yeah…" I replied slowly. I had finally noticed, she was incredibly drunk after all. Though her speech patterns and balance were unaffected, her pupils were dilated to a scary size. Barely any gray iris was left; she looked like a cat drugged up on too much catnip.

"So Mirajane?" She turned her attention to the temporary bartender for the night. "Why do you think Lucy attracts such weird stellar spirits? I mean, Loki was weird enough with his love thing. Chrona was really strange though when she fell asleep mid sentence and Bjorn has this thing he does where-"

I immediately clamped my hand over her mouth, cutting her off from rambling about my spirits. Luckily, Mira was too distracted with drinking a martini to care.

"Kisa!" I hissed. "What're you thinking? You aren't supposed to say anything about that!"

She giggled lightly. "But it's funny…"

"It's a secret! You're not supposed to tell secrets!" I shushed her again. "Remember what'll happen if you don't?"

"Kinda," She mumbled, looking dejected. "But I wanna tell people everything…"

"Just… Tell them about something else," I sighed. She was never drinking in my presence again. She was a pour-your-heart-out kind of drunk apparently.

She smiled brightly. "Okay! What should I tell them about?"

"Your undying love for Alan," I mumbled sarcastically. Yup. She was never getting drunk again.

"Gotcha!" She yelled happily.

"Oooh, a love confession?" Mirajane interrupted excitedly. At least she was distracted from what Kisa was revealing before… "Here's a microphone! You need to tell everyone!" Crap again. I looked toward Alan, still snoozing drunkenly at the bar. At least he wouldn't remember in the morning… In fact, I'm not sure those awake would even remember.

"Hm… I'll tell everyone," Kisa mumbled. "In song form!"

I laughed as Mirajane provided Kisa with a music producing spell and pushed her on stage. Why not enjoy the show? I doubted most people would remember what I was sure to be an embarrassing performance in the morning.

Kisa cleared her throat, pupils still wildly dilated, before music flowed out around the guild. It wasn't embarrassing at all so far… It was rather soothing actually. Then, she started singing.

"I swear, my love  
>I will always be by your side<br>I'll be your shelter  
>And keep you from the cold and rain<br>From every hurt of life  
>And fall in pain<p>

I know, I'm in love  
>In overwhelming tears of bravery<br>So I smile and I kiss you  
>To show you how a heart is made<br>In every breath of love

Call me your only one  
>Sharing the time of life<br>Searching for old-time forgotten melodies  
>Calling the name of love<br>We're in the pain of love  
>Sharing the old-time forgotten melodies<p>

Calling you only one  
>Sharing the time of life<br>Never betray my forgotten melodies

I swear you're my love  
>You'll never be alone in freezing night<br>And I'll be your memories  
>To warm you in tomorrow's rain<br>In sleepless night

If you are still in the shadows  
>If you are still in your pain<br>Just call my name  
>I'll be your light, till the sun will find you<br>By the name of darkness  
>I swear to you<p>

Call me your only one  
>Sharing the time of life<br>You're my sweet triplet in boring melodies  
>Calling the name of love<br>We're in the pain of love  
>Searching for old-time forgotten melodies<p>

Singing the song of love  
>We're in the pain of love<br>Never betray my forgotten melodies  
>Calling the name of love<br>We're in the pain of love  
>Sharing the old-time forgotten melodies<p>

Calling the name of the true love  
>Sharing the time of the pain<br>And I swear  
>So I swear<br>By you…"

Clapping erupted all around the guild from those who were still awake. It was actually a really beautiful song Kisa had sung…

"_Her voice was interesting,"_ I thought as she descended from the stage, finally stumbling a bit. _"And the song was so sweet… I almost wish Alan was awake to hear it…"_ Was my last thought before I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>-Kisa-<strong>

"_My head…"_ I thought dizzily as I woke in the blinding morning light. _"I am never ever drinking again."_

I wasn't the only one in pain. Moans and groans echoed across the guild as the Fairy Tail mages woke from their alcohol induced slumber.

"Ow… My head…" A voice said. I was puzzled, it sounded like it was right next to me. I recognized that I was laying on something… rather someone's legs.

"Sorry Lucy," I groaned as I pushed myself off, rolling on my stomach. I had never felt so sick before.

"S'okay," She winced, grumbling about Cana and her drinking habits, before turning over and attempting to fall back asleep.

My eyes finally adjusted to the light, I looked around and laughed. The dining hall was completely demolished, tables and chairs thrown all around the room. Everyone was asleep in the strangest of positions and places, Juvia was still on a ceiling rafter. That reminds me…

"_What did I do last night?"_ I thought incredulously. The last thing I remember was trying to talk Pantherlily into bringing Juvia down from the ceiling, but that had been on the second floor. Why was I now over by the bar?

Shrugging it off, I attempted to compose myself enough to get to the bathroom. After using it and quickly brushing my teeth as best I could without a toothbrush, I decided to try and find Alan. The poor guy didn't last long after his first drink. Then again, maybe he felt better than the rest of us now.

"Hehe," I couldn't help smiling at his sleeping form. He was curled up cutely across three barstools, right arm dangling off the side. I brought myself in front of him to stare at his face. Ugh… His morning breath smelled as bad as mine had a minute ago.

I placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. "Alan," I whispered. "Wake up."

His face contorted in irritation. "Not yet…" He whimpered sleepily. I didn't stop nudging his shoulder though. He finally opened one eye sleepily, jolting upright when he saw my face. "What? What happened?"

"Nothing happened!" I laughed at his bewildered expression before wincing in pain. He looked at me worriedly.

"You okay?" He asked in concern, sliding off the stools to sit next to me on the floor.

"Hangover," I admitted. He winced.

"Yeah, I have a headache too…" He sighed.

I couldn't help it. I laughed so hard tears ran down my cheeks from the pain. I gasped and tried to stop before Alan looked any more panicked. "You only had two drinks! How can you have a hangover?"

He blushed, looking embarrassed. "I'd never tried alcohol before…"

"Really?" I asked surprised. I had at least tried alcohol, though this was my first ever hangover. I was quickly deciding I didn't want any more. "That was a lot of fun though… Having a party with everyone."

"It was," Alan grinned widely. "I'm glad we could join, this guild seems like a nice place." He glanced at his new Fairy Tail stamp on his arm, just below his left shoulder.

"It really is…" I sighed happily, leaning against Alan as I watched the guild start to collectively wake up. Everyone was groaning in pain and holding their heads.

"Juvia wants down please!" Juvia called from the ceiling, looking confused and scared. Everyone on the floor winced at the loud noise. Happy obliged, flying up to rescue her.

"Who wants my special hangover helper?" Mirajane called cheerfully from behind us.

"I'll take one," I immediately said, standing up gingerly from where I sat. She handed me a cup filled with a strange, buttery yellow looking liquid that smelled like sweet mint and garlic. I nearly gagged.

"Me too," Lucy said tiredly, downing hers in a quick gulp. She shuddered before looking at me. "Just swallow it quickly, it really does help."

Looking reproachfully at the foul smelling liquid, I gulped it quickly. It tasted much like it smelled and I choked a little on the thickness of it. About ten seconds later, I no longer felt nauseous and my headache was fading little by little. I sighed in relief.

"Thank you Mirajane," I called toward her over the growing line of hung over mages. I would never become drunk again if it meant I would never need to taste that foul concoction again.

"Mm…" Lucy stretched. "I want a nice hot bath. How about you Kisa?"

"That sounds amazing…" I sighed wistfully. Quick, cold baths in springs were nothing compared to a warm soak.

"Well, let's go to my house!" She grinned. "We can take a bath there."

"No you can't," Erza interrupted abruptly. I hadn't become used to her blunt manner just yet; she scared me a little honestly. "Lucy…" She gave my friend a reproachful look. "You haven't paid rent for seven months. The evicted all your things ages ago…"

She gaped. "M-My apartment? But what about my books? My keys?"

"I have them," Natsu strolled over, grinning widely with his arms crossed behind his head.

"At least there's that…" Lucy sighed. "But where am I going to stay? Actually," She looked at me and Alan. "Where are we going to stay? We're broke."

"Hey!" Natsu yelled excitedly. "You guys should stay with me and Happy!"

"Aye!" Happy popped up beside him. "That's a great idea Natsu!" He jumped into my arms, purring slightly.

"Uh uh, no way!" Lucy protested. "I can't live with a _guy_! Two guys at that!"

"Oh come on Lucy," Natsu slung his arm over her shoulder, warmly smiling at her. "No rent needed after all! We'll just make you clean!" He cackled boisterously.

She sighed, though she was grinning and I knew she had already made up her mind. "Fine fine… But I'm leaving as soon as I can afford it!"

He laughed again, steering Lucy out of the guild while beckoning Alan and I to follow.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

So there's that chapter. I've noticed these are steadily getting longer though this one is shorter than the previous chapter… I hope that's alright. Thank you so much for reading again. Any reviews are greatly appreciated as well as corrections in case I made an error.


	11. Chapter 10: Shadow

Sorry this chapter took a bit longer than usual for me to write, it was a bit harder than I thought. Thank you Purplelini, Footster26, MaJorReader619, and Marina Rose for your reviews! As usual, I really appreciate it. Also, thank you Purplelini for pointing out I wasn't clear enough in the last chapter. I only meant for them to stay with Natsu for a couple days. I hope I clarified things in this chapter a bit more. Thank you for reading as usual and I don't own anything. An additional disclaimer is posted at the end of the chapter.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

**-Kisa-**

"What the-" I gasped at the sight before me, nearly gagging at the putrid smell that wafted from the open door.

"Come on in!" Natsu welcomed cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to the chaos and general mess of the house he apparently lived in.

"Natsu… Happy…" Lucy growled dangerously beside me.

"W-what?" Natsu sweated nervously at her tone.

"How the hell did you manage to make this place _worse_ than before?" Lucy blew up, her face flushed in fury. "I spent hours cleaning it for you, why is it so… so… _disgusting_ now?"

Natsu and Happy trembled before her wrath, oblivious to the fact that she was obviously shorter than Natsu. Yet she seemed to tower over them as she scolded them further.

"I've been gone for less than a year and you've managed to trash this place even more than before? That was _years _of mess that I cleaned! Why is it worse than ever now?" She ranted, following them into the house as they scrambled away from her.

"Lucy's scary…" Happy whimpered as Natsu nodded furiously in agreement.

"_Scary?_ I'm scary? What's scary is how you two have been liv-" She was cut off as she slipped on a puddle of goo, landing straight in the strange substance. "Yeowch! What the?" She looked around in bewilderment, currently covered in a bright orange gunk that hung in strands from her hair. It was too much for Natsu and Happy.

"Yahahaha!" Natsu guffawed gleefully, clutching his belly as he rolled on the trash covered ground. Happy was in tears next to him, laughing just as hard. "You should see your face Lucy!"

"This is disgusting!" Lucy moaned, attempting to wipe off the slime. "What the hell is this?"

"Ah, that's the fire curry we had for dinner last month. I was wondering where the leftovers went," Natsu answered agreeably.

Lucy gave him a blank look. Then she sighed. "I should have stayed with Levy or someone else while I tried to get money for a new place…" At this, Natsu's eyes narrowed slightly but Lucy didn't seem to notice. I quietly climbed over the mountains of junk trying to reach her despite Alan protesting that we shouldn't interfere. "Or I should have stayed in a tent or something; I'm used to camping out anyway… Or I even could have just gone on a mission straight away to get money… What was I thinking?"

"Lucy…" Natsu mumbled quietly. She looked at him, surprised at his serious expression. "Stay here." He commanded, eyes glinting resolutely.

She flushed. "You think you can tell me what to do? I happen to know this place isn't suited for living. Besides, I don't know what I was thinking agreeing to stay with you. I could have stayed with Juvia or Levy or even Erza!"

"It's just for a couple days!" He pleaded. "Just until you get enough money for a place of your own… What's the big deal?"

"The big deal?" Lucy had managed to extricate herself from the month old curry. "I'm covered in rotten food and your house is a mess!"

"It washes off, you wanted a bath anyway…" He insisted. "And I'll clean it up. Promise!"

"Aye! We promise!" Happy echoed.

"Waahh!" I yelped as I tripped over a discarded cooking pot. I fell to the ground, groaning in disgust as I tumbled straight into whatever was in the pot. It smelled sour and I nearly gagged at the sickening odor. Alan had finally entered the house at my yell, scrambling over the piles of refuse to try and reach me.

"So that's where my fish milk went!" Happy flew over gleefully. He sniffed me once and yelped, flying away while covering his nose. "Yuck, it's spoiled…"

"Fish… milk?" I nearly passed out from the rancid, briny odor. _"What the heck is fish milk?"_ I tried not to think too much about it. Alan had finally found me, but couldn't come any closer from the strong smell.

Lucy sighed in defeat. "We'll possibly stay if you clean this place up while Kisa and I wash this stuff off." She glared menacingly at Natsu who was smiling happily. "But only if this place is clean, got it?"

"A-Aye!" He gibbered nervously.

Lucy sighed again. "Talking like Happy, huh?" She muttered as she dragged me toward a closed door with her.

"I'll help," Alan told Natsu as we stumbled over even more trash.

"Hehe, thanks… Happy would you start bringing trash over here?"

"Um…" I watched the floating cat fidget nervously as Lucy led me by my arm. "A-Actually Natsu, I'll just wash dishes or something." He glanced at Alan in what seemed to be dislike.

"_That's odd,"_ I thought as Lucy and I walked into a bathroom, leaving the boys in the main room. _"Why would Happy not like Alan? He's really nice…"_

Lucy groaned again, bringing my attention to the state of the bathroom. It was slightly cleaner than the other room, but not by much. Lucy immediately turned on the faucet to wash away what looked like paint that lined the inside of the bathtub. The sink was unusable, filled with dirt to house a plant resembling catnip. Of course, bags of trash littered the floor, though thankfully none had spoiled food. We threw the bags in the main room before attempting to wash the gunk from our hair first. Lucy yelped at the icy cold water, but we managed to remove most of the stuff. The water was left on to fill the bath, but it never seemed to get any warmer. Lucy sighed in exasperation at this, mumbling something about hot water.

Lucy opened the door to the bathroom again. "Natsu!" She called.

"Yeah?" He appeared right in front of her, as though waiting right outside the door the entire time. I could see Happy struggling to carry a bag of trash behind Natsu.

"Your water heater is broken," Lucy replied simply, trying her best not to look surprised.

He gave her an odd look, as though her simple statement was the creepiest thing she had said all day. "I don't have a water heater."

"Then what do you do for hot… water… Oh," She ended lamely, looking embarrassed. "You heat it up yourself, don't you?"

"Yup," He laughed brightly. "Lucy, you're such a weirdo."

"Am not!" She frowned slightly, looking as if she were trying not to laugh. "Anyway, can you make the water hot? I haven't had a hot bath in ages and I need one…"

"Haha, yup!" He smiled at her and strolled next to the tub. He stuck his hand in the half full bath, which immediately steamed and hissed as the water instantly boiled. "There ya go!"

"I didn't mean _that_ hot…" Lucy grumbled as Natsu left the bathroom.

"We can just add cold water until it's bearable," I supplied, trying to ease the tension. Lucy seemed to be pretty irritated with Natsu this morning, she hadn't even acknowledged Alan, Happy, and I while she was ranting in the living room.

Lucy sighed yet again. "I know… I'm just really on edge," She admitted as she turned on the cold water. "It's like I don't know how to act around them anymore… I'm just so happy to be back and I want to tell them everything…"

"But we can't," I finished for her. She nodded tersely as she began to take off her curry-stained shirt. I mimicked her, wanting to stop smelling like 'fish milk' as soon as possible. "I know how you feel… I've been a bit awkward with Alan too."

The water was hot but finally not enough to burn and we both got in eagerly.

"Ahhh…" Lucy sighed in content. "I've missed this…"

"Mm…" I agreed, immersed in the blissfully hot water. We washed off the remainder of the food and simply soaked in content for a while.

"So Lucy," I began when the water cooled to be lukewarm.

"Hm?" She opened one eye to look at me.

I took a breath, steadying myself for the uncomfortable question. "Are you still planning to collect the sanctum keys?"

Her face fell. "I've been thinking about that," She admitted hesitantly. "And I-I think I'm going to."

"Okay," I said, not prying any further. If she felt uneasy talking about it, I wasn't going to push her to explain. "I'll help of course."

She smiled gratefully. "It's just… I know I probably shouldn't from what we saw," She looked to the door worriedly, but continued. "I just… I can't _not_ look for them. They're connected to Mama somehow… I have to know…"

I grinned reassuringly, understanding her motive. "Like I said, I'll back you up. You'll always have me to help you."

"Same goes for you," She stated before standing up to grab a towel. "Let's go get some clothes now. No way am I putting those ruined clothes on ever again." She declared, wrapping the towel securely around her body.

"Where are we going to get clothes?" I asked, realizing I hadn't even thought of that until now. I pulled an identical towel around myself.

"Natsu," Lucy sighed, opening the door suddenly. She immediately started coughing violently.

"What's wro-" I began before the smell hit my nose too. I gagged, slapping my hand over my mouth.

"How is even _worse_ again?" Lucy choked, making her way into the reeking living room. I followed hesitantly; relieved it was marginally cleaner than before. I was actually impressed with the progress, the place looked habitable now. So where was that horrible smell coming from?

"Lucy!" Natsu yelled eagerly from the front door, brushing sooty hands on his trousers. "How's it look?"

"Better," Lucy admitted, hand still covering her mouth. "But what is that _smell_?"

"Ah, that's burnt trash. I smell it too," Alan supplied from the sink. "Natsu thought that was the quickest was to get rid of it." I hadn't noticed him at first, but he had washed almost all the dirty dishes in the room apparently. He turned to look at Lucy and I, wiping his wet hands on a small cloth. "Gah! W-W-what are you wearing?" He stuttered, immediately turning around again at our state of attire.

"Haha, we forgot to get a change of clothes. Have any we can borrow?" I giggled nervously. Alan was really funny sometimes; his ears were completely red as he faced the wall.

"Ah! I forgot!" Natsu exclaimed. He walked over to a newly uncovered section of the room and gestured toward a large dresser. "Lucy, all your clothes are here."

He seemed completely unfazed that Lucy and I wore only a towel in his living room. Lucy seemed used to the treatment as well and simply grabbed some clothes. "I can't believe you left all my stuff in this state," She sighed again. "None of those were folded or hung up."

"Heehee," Natsu giggled and smiled happily as Lucy dragged me back to the bathroom. We emerged after getting dressed properly. Lucy stretched comfortably, now wearing a blue miniskirt with a brown belt, a white top with blue trimmings, and knee high black boots. I tugged at my borrowed shirt nervously, not used to wearing something so… nice. However, it was a cute outfit and I liked the simple dark purple tank top Lucy had picked out. Luckily, her jeans fit me well though her shoes were a different story. Looks like I would be barefoot or using my travelling boots until I had enough money to buy my own.

"Hehe, welcome back Lucy. You look like yourself again," Natsu grinned widely as she pulled her hair into a small ponytail.

"Thanks," She smiled in relief. "I really missed dressing like this, traveler's clothes are not my style."

"You look nice too Kisa," Alan mumbled to me quietly, blushing brilliantly.

"Thanks!" I replied. _"He must still be embarrassed seeing us in towels,"_ I laughed as he shuffled shyly next to me.

"You liiiiiikkkkee her," Happy hummed mischievously from a tree growing though the floor of the house.

"No he doesn't," I walked over to the cat, playfully poking him in the stomach. "Don't tease Alan too much, Happy. He's easily embarrassed."

"Aye!" He purred, floating next to me as I scratched his ear. I didn't miss the impish smile he sent towards Alan who sighed heavily. I frowned as I glanced at him, what got him looking so depressed?

"Oh! Right!" Natsu ran over to a hammock I assumed was his, rummaging around the pillow for something. "Here ya go, Lucy!" He smiled happily as he tossed something towards her. She caught the sparkling, jingling object and gasped.

"My… Keys…" Lucy breathed heavily, looking as though she were trying not to cry. She held them to her chest, looking relieved and tired at the same time. "Thank you…" She smiled ecstatically at Natsu, who looked flustered at her display of gratitude.

"Don't mention it…" He mumbled unclearly, rubbing the back of his neck.

**-Lucy-**

"_I finally have my keys back…"_ I though joyfully. I really missed all my spirits; after all, they were my friends as much as my fellow guild members were. _"Well, maybe not Aquarius."_

"Now we can go on missions again!" Natsu yelled, raising his fist in excitement. He grabbed my arm and began dragging me out the house. "Bet you can't wait to use your keys again, huh?"

Wait… my keys? _"Crap!"_ I mentally shouted, belatedly realizing the danger of summoning any of my stellar spirits. _"Bjorn said all my spirits would have a true contract now! What if they notice and ask me about it? I can't let Natsu know, I need to talk to them first!"_

"A-Actually," I gulped, trying desperately to think of a way to get away for a little bit. "I wanted… I wanted to show Kisa around Magnolia a little!" I shouted triumphantly. Natsu gave me a funny look at my declaration. I ignored his questioning glare and grabbed Kisa by the arm. "So… We'll be back soon," I continued, trying to get away as soon as possible.

"What's up?" Kisa whispered in my ear.

"Have to talk to keys first," I muttered in reply, hoping Natsu's dragon slayer hearing wouldn't pick up on the mumbled statement. No such luck.

"We'll come with you," Natsu eyed me suspiciously. "Alan needs to be shown around too, right?"

"Yup," Alan looked at us strangely too. Crap. I didn't know what his magic was but if it was like Kisa's, that meant it had the same effect as Natsu's. Heightened senses.

"Run," Kisa stated before pulling me to run towards the more crowded part of town. I laughed at the shocked looks on both boys faces before turning around and running with all my might.

"Hey!" They yelled in disbelief, before thundering after us. Kisa laughed heartily next to me as we attempted to lose them in the horde of people out shopping. Hopefully, they would think this was all a game when we came back.

* * *

><p>"How… Do they… Keep finding us?" I panted as we rested under a bridge. We had finally lost them for the eighth time, but I was sure one of them was going to find us again soon.<p>

"I think… Alan can… smell us," Kisa panted next to me, sinking down to sit on the concrete slick with water. "He has… a better sense of smell… than me."

"That means," I had finally caught my breath. "Natsu smelled us too," I grimaced. "And Happy just flies around looking for us." It was why we were currently hiding under a bridge instead of in an alley. "How can we get away? I thought we should head to the East Forest once we lost them but they'll just follow our scent!"

"Damn," Kisa groaned, rising to her feet again. "I wish we could just fly away, they couldn't follow us then."

"That's it!" I exclaimed, drawing odd looks from some workers on a boat floating past. I waited for them to float down river, out of sight before putting my plan into action. "Open the gate to the Temporal Witch! Chrona!"

"You rang?" The floating spirit asked lazily, thankfully awake.

"Stop time right now!" I gasped hurriedly, remembering to grab Kisa's arm before the magic took effect. Now we _could_ fly away without being seen.

"Mm," She waved sluggishly, as though batting away a fly. Immediately, every noise stopped except my own breathing and Kisa's excited gasp next to me.

"Brilliant!" She yelled, pulling us out from under the bridge. It was so odd to see everything just… stopped. There was a merchant throwing an apple, now floating in midair, while frozen in a wide smile. A little boy stood completely still in a puddle, unmoving droplets circling his small feet in a watery halo as the woman next to him had her mouth open as though to scold him.

"Weird…" I voiced my thoughts out loud as I took in my surroundings. It was unsettling to see everything so… still. I dropped to my knees to keep a hand on Kisa's foot as she transformed, not removing my hand even as the appendage grew enormously and became covered in fur. I wasn't sure if the time stopping effect would last when we weren't in contact and I wasn't going to find out now. She growled in her Ohju form and lowered herself so I could climb on her back. Chrona followed, eerily silent as she stared wide eyed at Kisa. I could feel the exhaustion settling in as the magic took its toll. This was much more draining than changing Bjorn's form…

"Let's go!" I gasped. "I can't hold this for much longer, head towards the forest to your left!"

I felt a rumble from the beast underneath me, and I wound my hands in the soft fur as Kisa spread her wings. We rose in the air with a mighty gust of wind, Chrona rising effortlessly with us. It still amazed me how such a large and heavy creature could fly like this; I supposed it was the wind magic Kisa seemed to posses when she was in this form. She could never summon even a small breeze when she was human though. _"I wonder why?"_

We landed abruptly, the journey barely taking a minute by air. I was glad too, the drain on my magic was starting to become too much. I immediately released the magic as soon as I rolled off Kisa's back and vaguely noticed Chrona had gone to sleep again. I stared at her sleeping form, still not used to my newest spirit.

"Close the gate," I said, not knowing what else to do with her. I'd have to thank her next time I summoned her. Kisa had resumed human form and strolled over to me, shaking her head.

"We probably left some interesting smells back in the city," She laughed.

"Yeah," I chuckled agreeably. "Let's hurry and finish this so we can run back. We'll say we were playing hide and seek… Or something." I grinned as Kisa laughed again at this. "Open the gate to the Lion! Leo!"

"Lucy! My love!" Loki cried dramatically as he appeared. "I knew you would call for me," He winked mischievously.

I sighed, used to his antics. Kisa seemed unsure of what to make of him though. "Are you really a lion?" She asked curiously.

"Sorry, we'll have to talk about that later. This is kind of urgent… Sorry," I apologized for interrupting, but I was in a hurry. I half expected Natsu to come crashing through the bushes at any moment.

"Did you find out?" Loki asked gravely. Find out what? My confusion must have showed on my face because Loki sighed before continuing. "I guess not… I almost wished I wouldn't need to tell you," He looked at me resolutely. "Remember when Master wanted to talk to me yesterday?" I nodded, unsure of where this was going. "He… Well, he asked me to spy on you two for him." He ended simply.

My jaw dropped. "S-Spy?"

"I knew he suspected something…" Kisa grumbled next to me.

"But why?" I demanded angrily. "He has no right!"

Loki held up his hands in defense. "He's just worried about you. He said your story was odd, he wanted to make sure nothing had happened!"

"That doesn't mean he can just ask you to spy on us!" I threw my hands up in disbelief. He really didn't trust me that much? Granted, we had been lying but…

I frowned at that, anger dissipating slightly. "What did he think happened?" Kisa asked quietly.

Loki looked at her appreciatively. "He thought you two were being followed or something, but he wasn't sure. Hence his request."

"What do you want to do?" I asked him, a little disappointed Master didn't think I could handle myself.

"What do you want me to do?" Loki looked at me, an unreadable emotion flashing across his face. "You're my owner after all."

"Loki…" I sighed. "I'm your friend, not your owner. You have a free will, it's up to you to decide what you want to do."

"And that's why you're my owner," Loki knelt before me and lightly kissed my hand. I looked away in embarrassment as my protests trailed off at his action. "I am loyal to you first and I will do anything to protect you. I will not do as the Master asked."

Kisa giggled softly at my flustered expression. I had forgotten what a lady killer Loki could be when he wanted. "T-Thanks," I smiled gratefully, truly thankful to know I had such good friends. "A-Anyway, that isn't why I called you," Loki stepped back as I took a deep breath. "Do you know about true contracts?"

He looked surprised. "Of course. I'm assuming you found out because you managed to make one while you were away?"

"H-How did you know?" I gaped at him. How obvious was it that something had changed with my contracts?

"I felt it as soon as you summoned me with your own power instead of me opening the gate myself," He admitted. "Our contract immediately reformed itself. I am now bound to you, and you only."

"Will that happen with all of Lucy's spirits? The contracts reform as soon as she summons them?" Kisa asked before I could.

"Most likely, yes. I doubt any of us would mind though," Loki smiled at me in adoration. I shuffled uncomfortably, though I was happy this would make things a little easier.

"In that case, could I ask for a favor?" I questioned, already knowing the answer.

"Anything for my beloved Lucy," Loki grinned handsomely.

"Could you… not tell anyone about it?" I replied anxiously. "I don't want anyone to know… And could you also tell the other stellar spirits for me? I don't think I have the energy to summon them all one by one to ask…"

"Of course," Loki raised his eyebrows, but didn't inquire further.

"Thanks… Just tell them I don't want any human to know. And I won't use their secondary ability unless I really need to," I sighed in relief. This was going a lot more smoothly than I originally thought.

"You already can use the secondary ability?" Loki didn't even try to disguise the shock in his voice. "Just who did you contract with while you were gone?"

"Actually…" Kisa interrupted, looking sheepish. "Can you summon him now if possible? I miss talking to him… I'm not used to not seeing him every day," She admitted, looking shy and apologetic.

"Yeah, I can do that. It'll be easier if you meet him anyway Loki," I said. Besides, I truly missed him too. It was unsettling to not wake up to his snarky voice and strange sense of humor. "Open the gate to the Beast King! Bjorn!"

"About time!" His voice barked gruffly. "How long were you going to keep me away? Tired of me al- Oof!" He was cut off when Kisa ran to embrace him. She buried her face in his furry chest, laughing at his shocked noise.

"Sorry, Bjorn. Some things came up," I grinned as he nodded slowly, seeming unsure of whether to hug Kisa back or not. He settled for awkwardly wrapping one arm around her shoulders and patting her head with his other hand. An odd mixture of uncertainty and affection adorned his face. It was an odd sight as his face resembled a bear or wolf more than a human and the emotion made his lips twist oddly.

Kisa looked up and saw this, abruptly bursting out laughing. "Who are you?" Loki asked, bewildered at Bjorn's entrance.

"I believe you heard my title when Lucy called," Bjorn stated in amusement, raising an eyebrow to evaluate Loki. "You must be Leo, King certainly told me enough about you. He seems to have taken a liking to you."

"Y-You know the Spirit King?" Loki sputtered.

"A question for another time," He waved his hand absently. "Now, I assume you wanted to talk Lucy?"

"Nah, just wanted to see your handsome face." I quipped jokingly. Then I remembered I did have something I wanted to ask him. This was becoming difficult though… Two spirits out at once right after summoning Chrona was really starting to affect me. I sat down tiredly, and Bjorn thankfully took notice.

"Are you done with Leo? You should send one of us back before you get too tired," He stated, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, I'll go back. It's Loki by the way," Loki directed hesitantly toward the Beast King. "I'll talk to everyone for you Lucy," He stopped staring at Bjorn to look at me.

"Just make sure you talk to Aquarius with Scorpio there too," I sighed tiredly. "She usually behaves when he's there. Thank you again by the way…"

He grinned before fading out of view.

"So what have you two been up to?" Bjorn asked curiously. "I assume you made it back, but why haven't I been introduced to your guild?" He gestured toward the Fairy Tail stamp on Kisa's chest.

"It's… complicated," I sighed. We then proceeded to tell him all about the vision we shared when I had first summoned Chrona.

"That's impossible," He stated adamantly. "Chrona can't see into the future, only the past and the present. That goes for her secondary ability as well. Unless…" He tapped his chin, looking immersed in his own thoughts.

"Unless?" Kisa prompted.

He turned to look at me slowly. "Unless… Your mother did something to encourage something like that to happen when you first used that ability."

"Mama…" I whispered. Why was she connected with everything that happened with my spirits recently?

"It's just speculation; I don't know how she would have gone about doing something like that. But it's the only explanation I can think of," Bjorn growled in frustration. "What were you thinking, Layla?"

We sat in silence for a few minutes, all immersed in our own thoughts.

I was jerked out of my silent musings as something snapped in the bushes behind Bjorn. I jumped to my feet. _"Is it Natsu?"_ I thought wildly for a second, but soon dismissed that possibility. Whatever it was, it moved too silently to be Natsu. He would have been smashing through the trees, yelling out my name and generally making noise.

"Who's there?" Kisa called nervously. An eerie pause ensued, the shadows in the trees seeming to darken and become more ominous with each passing moment. I gulped nervously as a slithering sound made its way toward us, sounding like a snake passing over dead leaves. I strained to see what was there, a dull sense of dread growing in my stomach.

An inky black shape emerged from the shadows and I had had to choke back a sob of terror. The thing hissed menacingly at us, pacing restlessly as though waiting for an order to attack. I shuddered at the monstrosity, frozen in place with some sort of primeval fear.

It was horrible, its body shaped like that of a humongous black lizard and the thing stood even taller than Bjorn. Four spindly legs, seeming too frail to support its weight, bent backwards at the knee joint. Each thin limb ended in three oversized talons; the claws sharp enough to pierce the ground where it stood without much effort. At least a hundred sharp spines, some as long as my arm, bristled in impatience and entirely covered its back and neck. The head was massive, seeming disproportionate and was as thick at the neck as it was at the snout. I gulped as I realized the creature had no eyes, only empty sockets that seemed blacker than a starless night sky. A massive muscular tail thrashed angrily at the ground, also covered in razor-sharp barbs, and jagged teeth grated in anticipation.

"What the hell is that?" Kisa yelped, gaping at the monster before us. It was still pacing a short distance away, massive head bobbing in time with its quick, almost dainty steps. I wasn't sure what to do but I desperately wanted to run away, the sinister creature practically oozed malice and bloodlust.

"I have no idea!" Bjorn snapped incredulously.

"How can you not know?" I moaned in disbelief. "It's a beast, you're the beast king! Do something!"

"I've never seen anything like it!" Bjorn choked out through gritted teeth. "It's not my jurisdiction!"

"Well whatever it is, it needs to leave!" Kisa cried out. She seemed as horrified and wary of the menacing creature as I felt.

And suddenly, at some unspoken signal, it advanced. Launching itself at Kisa with a guttural shriek, it tried to clamp down its powerful jaws over her torso. She transformed quickly into an Ocelot causing the thing to leap over her. Without missing a beat, it dashed towards me and clawed at my face. Luckily, it was slow enough for me to dodge but blind fear was clouding my judgment; I was having trouble moving. _"What am I so afraid of?"_ I wondered, completely bewildered. Bjorn took the form of a Vulcan attempting to beat it away from me. He succeeded initially, but screamed in pain as two spines from the creatures back impaled his hand.

"Ahhhh…" I moaned, sinking to my knees to clutch my own hand. The pain was excruciating and the contract ensured I felt every pang of agony my spirit felt. Kisa roared, now a large white tiger, and sprinted toward the creature. While she kept it busy, Bjorn stumbled almost drunkenly over to me.

Bjorn changed back to his original form, panting and clutching his freely bleeding hand. I noticed vaguely that it was hissing and steaming. "Must… let me… go back," He gasped through clenched teeth. "Don't let it… scratch you… poison!" He yelled towards Kisa who growled in acknowledgement.

"Close the gate!" I yelped as the pain in my hand- Bjorn's pain- intensified. I sighed in relief as the gate closed, shutting off the pain immediately.

"We need to run!" I called to Kisa, who changed back to a human as she bounded to my side. We dashed through the trees, trying to escape the monstrosity I could distinctly hear following us. I clasped my hands to my ears as it shrieked again, whimpering a little in fright.

"_What should I do?"_ I thought wildly. _"I can't let any more of my spirits get hurt! But that thing is going to kill us!"_ Kisa and I waded through a shallow stream, hoping to lose the thing. It simply leaped across and faced us on the other bank, effectively trapping us in the middle. If we turned around it would jump over again and we obviously couldn't go forward. I kicked the stream and splashed water at it, hoping it would melt or get hurt or _something_. My hopes were in vain however, as it simply shook off the water and sputtered angrily at us.

We turned to try and run despite knowing it was useless. The creature did exactly what I knew it would, leaping over the water to cut off our escape again. I tried to run downstream a little, tugging Kisa along. She understood and followed, gasping for breath while we ran for a short distance. I yelped in dismay as my boot caught in the soft mud of the riverbed, and I splashed face first into the water. Kisa realized this and stopped a few yards ahead, turning around to look at me in terror. The creature was in the water now, between the two of us, facing me and hissing threateningly. Kisa yelled, trying to draw its' attention by throwing rocks. It completely ignored her and advanced on me.

"_I need to summon a spirit!"_ I thought desperately. _"Any spirit! I need to run! I need to fight! I'm going to die if I don't do anything!"_ I scooted away in terror as the creature advanced, seeming to savor my fear. _"Move!"_ I willed my legs to move, for me to stand up. Instead, I froze uselessly in the water, staring into the empty eye sockets of the creature I knew would kill me. I threw up my arms in front of my face and squeezed my eyes shut as it roared and finally crouched to attack. I didn't want to see the terrible black teeth any more, the hollow spots where eyes should be, I didn't want to see my own demise.

I could barely hear Kisa's desperate scream in the background.

I tensed, ready for the coming attack. I waited, dreading the pain. However, there was no pain. No pain, no claws ripping at my flesh, no teeth sinking into muscle and bone. It had to have come by now, what was taking so long? I cautiously opened my eyes, curiosity dominating fear.

I nearly fainted at the sight that met my eyes. The monster was within arm's reach, gaping maw wide open. Glistening black teeth dripped with saliva, smelling rancid and foul. But that wasn't the most surprising part of the situation at all. An enormous dented sword, looking battered and amateurishly made, was wedged in the monsters teeth. It was all that kept me from being torn apart on the spot and I looked to my savior gratefully. What I saw made me gasp in disbelief.

A tall, humanoid cat held the sword. It was as tall as Elfman, towering at least three heads above me though a good portion of that extra height consisted of long cat ears standing straight up on its' head. It was adorned in dingy green and tan armor, covering the cat's torso, forearms, and legs completely. Purple fur covered whatever was left exposed from the armor including a long, twitching tail that nearly brushed the ground.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a sword rose from the ground to strike the monster squarely in the chest. It jumped back with a hiss as I looked in disbelief at the cat, which had performed a quick motion in time with the movement of the sword. The malicious being looked unfazed, no blood dripped from where the sword had struck it. I noticed belatedly that the sword, now fallen uselessly to the ground, was completely dull. The cat hissed menacingly at the malevolent creature that was now backing away slowly.

"Stay… Away…" A deep, feminine voice rumbled from the armored cat's throat. "Leave Lucy alone…" Wait… the only one here that knew my name was-

"Kisa?" I realized in astonishment. Apparently, my friend had achieved another transformation. Though not as large as an Ohju, this form was just as magnificent. She looked so… noble standing in front of me. Even the dingy armor and aged sword added to her powerful aura as she stood, poised for attack.

But the dark being simply stood, as if gauging our reactions. It was stock still, no longer tensed in anticipation or agitation at our presence.

"What's it doing?" I whispered cautiously, not wanting to prompt another attack. I peeked out from behind an armored shoulder to look at our former attacker.

"I'm not sure," Kisa growled heavily. "But I don't like this… It's as if the thing's taking orders or something."

I gulped, realizing that it really did seem like that was the case. As if to confirm our suspicions, the creature opened its mouth much more widely than seemed possible and let out a hoarse scream. I pressed my hands firmly over my ears, the terrible shriek even louder than earlier and it shook me to my core. I sank to my knees again, fear completely dominating my state of mind. Kisa shuddered in front of me, not looking nearly as confident as she had before but still standing. At this, the creature sounded a short cough, sounding almost… triumphant. Then, it quickly turned around and disappeared without a backward glance.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Well, here was this week's chapter. I hoped you like it! The new form is taken from the .Hack series and is a character named Mia. Sorry about that, I really have trouble thinking up things like that so I like to borrow from other series. So I do not own any form of published media including .Hack, Kemono no Souja Erin, and Fairy Tail. Thank you for reading and I really appreciate everyone who reviewed, faved, or added this story to your alerts!


	12. Chapter 11: Rune

Thank you Marina Rose, Footster26, Sweet Tsubaki, Senbei x Cup Ramen, and aphrodite931 for your reviews! To answer some of your comments, I am planning on making this story a bit long so the romance portions may be a bit slow in developing. I have based some things off Kemono no Souja Erin as I love that anime too. And I am so glad someone likes my OC's! That's actually the part I am most unsure about in this story but I found it necessary for what I have in mind… Thank you all so much for your reviews and I am ecstatic most people like this so far! Thank you for reading as always and I do not own any form of published work.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

**-Lucy-**

Wind rustled through the trees as I continued to sit in fright, collapsed in the middle of a forest stream and getting more soaked by the second. Kisa visibly relaxed as the creature disappeared into the shadows and turned to look at me in concern.

From the front, her new form looked even more bizarre. The only parts of her body not wrapped in armor were her head, upper arms, and waist. Her legs from her feet to her knees were covered in cream colored armor, transitioning to green metal above the knee and ending at the joint of her thigh and hip. These metal leggings were attached by a large buckle to the armor covering her chest and upper stomach. The armor here covered her shoulders, neck, chest, stomach, and back; all colored green except for a cream strip under her breastplate. _"She has breasts in this form!"_ I realized humorously as I saw the bulge her armor formed at her chest. More armor shielded her forearms from her elbows to her hands and she wore leathery gloves on her human-like fingers. White fur surrounded her mouth and nose and continued as a thin, white stripe on her forehead. Another white patch was visible on the exposed portion of her stomach and the rest of her fur was a light violet, except for the dark fur at the tip of her tail. Her small black nose twitched while I examined her, reminding me I was probably making her uncomfortable with all my staring. Her eyes were the same gray shade I knew so well though her pupils were now slits and her eyes themselves were angled and feline. The ears of her current form were incredibly long; almost rabbit-like in how straight they stood on her head though the tips were pointed, not round.

"Y-you okay?" She said hesitantly, whiskers twitching in agitation. "You haven't said anything in a while…"

"Huh?" I mumbled. Great, that sounded intelligent… "O-Oh! Yeah, I was just surprised."

She nodded in understanding. "At least that thing is gone," She shuddered. "What was that anyway? It was-"

"Terrible," I finished for her. Words could barely describe just how horrible that thing's mere presence made me feel… "And there are way too many questions we need answered…"

That was true at least. Who had control over such a sinister monster? Why was it after us? How had Kisa managed to transform again into something completely different? How many beings could she change into? Where had those swords come from? Why is my head hurting so much?

"Huh?" I asked out loud. Why _was_ my head hurting so much?

"What's wrong?" Kisa knelt down next to me, needing to stoop low to be able to help me stand up. I accepted her hand gratefully and she pulled me out of the chilly water. I pressed my other hand to my temple, trying to alleviate the building pressure.

"I have a weird headache all of the sudden," I tried to explain. "It's not exactly painful… There's just a weird pressure like something is pulling in my head." I frowned, trying to concentrate through the odd sensation.

"Pulling?" Kisa tilted her head in consideration. "Like someone is pulling on your consciousness?"

"That's it!" I exclaimed, realizing the sensation. I immediately channeled magic to the sensation, now recognized as a calling.

"Finally!" Chrona appeared, fully awake and seeming strangely frantic. "How could you let that happen? Damn it, you need to be more cautious!"

"Wait a second," I asked in bewilderment. "What's going on?"

She turned to look at me, eyes flashing brilliantly making me avert my gaze to not be blinded. "I'm talking about you! How the fuck do you find one of the few things that can gravely injure a sanctum stellar spirit? Stupid stupid stupid!" She rolled in midair, twisting in agitation.

"Gravely injure?" Kisa gasped. "You mean Bjorn is-"

"Yes!" She wailed. "He's dying and even returning to the spirit world is only slowing down the process. He's not healing at all, only getting worse!" She tugged hard at her long braid, seeming as though she were checking this wasn't just a terrible nightmare.

"We have to help him!" I blurted out, hoping she had called because she had an idea. "How can we save him?"

"There is a spirit who could help," She acknowledged. "I need you to find her."

"I'll do it," I declared. I couldn't live with myself if Bjorn died. Actually, I would die along with him as the pain we shared before indicated. I hadn't realized just how serious the true contract was until that moment in time and I was _not_ ready to die. I still hadn't even had my first kiss! But true contract or not, I would never let my friend die if there was a chance I could save him.

"We'll do it you mean," Kisa corrected me, lightly nudging my shoulder. "I want to help Bjorn too. So where do we find this spirit?"

"Lucy, I need you to focus on Bjorn and use my ability. I know it's tiring, but I need you to do this. Now," She demanded. I just now realized how exhausted I felt after the day's events. I had summoned spirits four times and used two of their abilities. Now I had to use another one?

"I could have never done this before Bjorn's training," I grumbled, taking Kisa's gloved hand in mine. Focusing on my spirit, my dear friend, I activated Chrona's power.

Immediately, the scenery began moving around us. Instead of fading out like the previous vision, it was though the world moved around us while Kisa, Chrona, and I stood still. Large trees passed us quickly, the ground under my feet blurring as we zoomed along a preset path. Kisa gasped in her deep, husky voice as we passed a strange, twisted tree.

"I _know_ this place," She whispered excitedly. "It near Polly's mushroom patch!"

We were moved along an overgrown path for a short distance before coming to stop in a seemingly ordinary clearing. Crumbled, disintegrated ruins were the only indication something otherworldly occupied the space. The archaic remains that littered the grassy floor showed signs of extreme age, smoothed with erosion and coated with plants. One stone began to glow with golden light as I surveyed the area, moss and plant debris dissipating as Kisa and I moved to look at it more closely. Unintelligible runes etched on the rock came into view as we looked, worn with age and written in a language I did not recognize. I reached out to touch the radiant stone, but the vision abruptly ended. The ruins, grass, and trees faded to white; our real surroundings coming back into focus as Chrona hummed appreciatively.

"Now go," She murmured. "Let me go back, I'll do what I can to help Bjorn."

"Right," Kisa nodded. "I know the general area you indicated. We'll be quick I hope," Chrona lowered her head in appreciation before fading out of view. "We have to hurry," She continued, strolling over to me before kneeling down with her back exposed.

"What are you doing?" I questioned, confused at her actions.

"Piggyback ride," Kisa sighed grimly. "It won't be comfortable but I can run faster than humans in this form."

She was right. The armor on her back bumped and bruised me the entire mad dash to the ruins as we tried to save Bjorn.

* * *

><p>"We're here," Kisa mumbled apologetically. I winced as she took another step, metal digging into my chest and arms, not to mention the backs of my knees where she held me up. My poor skin would be so bruised in the morning…<p>

At least we had finally arrived. Kisa was right; she was incredibly fast in this form. Especially considering she was so weighed down by armor and me on her back, it was amazing we had found the clearing in less than half an hour. As Kisa set me down, my mind went completely numb momentarily. _"Here… Here I am… Please find me… I want to play… It's lonely…"_

"It's here!" I shouted grimly, recognizing the call of a spirit. Kisa nodded and ran over to a tree, starting to examine plant covered pebbles for the one seen in the vision.

Already frantic in our search for the stone with the inscription, we started to brush away moss and fungi flourishing in the humid climate. Each stone I looked at was completely ordinary and there were hundreds of similar rocks in this clearing. "_How are we going to find one stupid rock in time?"_

"Where the hell is this thing?" I moaned in desperation. I shook my head, trying to rid my mind of the confusing beckoning that disoriented me. I wiped away moss and slime from another stone, only to find another normal rock. We continued our search, becoming increasingly disheartened as the afternoon wore on with no luck. Though we had been probably searching for only an hour or so, it felt like the entire day had passed. I was starting to feel an odd sensation in my mind again, making me frantic with worry. I realized it was Bjorn's connection this time, and it was somehow distorting indicating something was very wrong.

"Found it!" Kisa shouted in triumph. She stumbled toward me, panting under the heat of the afternoon sun. She collapsed in front of me, holding out the familiar stone and tried to catch her breath.

I reached out to take the stone from her hand, not expecting the burst of light that exploded out at the lightest touch of my finger. I threw up my hands to shield my eyes and Kisa yelped before scrambling away from the phenomenon.

"You found me!" A lilting voice sang out as the spirit came into view, light dimming enough so that I could look again. What I saw rendered me completely speechless as I looked up from my position on the ground.

Her face resembled a young child, round and pink with delight at our presence. The spirit wore no clothes; her skin glossy like a beetle's shell and patterned to look like yellow turtleneck with white polka dots. Shoulder length, lime green hair bounced as she hopped toward us. I noticed in surprise that her torso was not connected to hips and legs, but rather seemed to sprout out of an enormous ball. As wide as a round dining table, it was dandelion yellow near the spirits body which transitioned delicately to a cream color where the spirit balanced on the forest floor. Luminescent orbs surrounded her form, flowing around her arms and hair like the ebb of underwater currents. At the moment, the glowing bubbles were an ocean blue color in the exact same shade as her sparkling eyes.

"Found you?" Kisa asked, finding her voice before I could. The spirit rotated on the spot to look at her in glee.

"Yuppers!" She giggled cheerfully. "Hide and seek isn't fun after such a long time hiding," She pouted, sticking out her lower lip. Expression brightening, she clapped and turned to look at the two of us. "What are your names?"

"I-I'm Lucy," I managed to respond. "And that's Kisa."

"Blondie and kitty!" She giggled, twirling on the spot with her arms extended. I realized this spirit's child like mentality might make things difficult in our urgent situation. "I'm Rune the Healer!" She stopped twirling to look at me with a knowing twinkling in her blue eyes. "You need my help, right?"

"Yes!" I yelped out, wanting to take advantage of the spirit's… no… of Rune's sudden seriousness. "Our friend is hurt really badly and Chrona said you could help!"

"Chrona?" Her eyes narrowed. "That witch… She helped you didn't she?"

"Helped us?" I mumbled in disbelief. "What do you mean? You're a spirit too, aren't you? Why wouldn't she help us?"

"You cheated," She stated simply, huffing in annoyance. "You weren't supposed to cheat to find me."

"Sorry, but can we discuss this later?" Kisa interrupted quietly. "Bjorn's in trouble."

"Hm…" Rune contorted her face in concentration, luminous orbs flowing around her quickly, now a turquoise color. "Okay, okay. I'll help! But only if you two play with me later." She smiled in delight.

"Fine, fine! Whatever you say!" I nearly screamed with impatience. I could feel something ominous happening across the link Bjorn and I shared, as though it were stretching and twisting. I could almost envision the bond snapping in two if it became any more strained.

"Touchy…" She huffed haughtily. She tossed her key at me carelessly; I almost dropped it in surprise as I weakened further with the new contract forming. "Well, call him here."

"Now?" Kisa hissed. "Won't he deteriorate faster?"

"And how can I summon two of you at once?" I whimpered wearily. "I'm already at my limit after summoning Chrona again _and_ using her powers!"

"I have no idea," Rune indifferently stated. "But don't worry so much, it'll all work out."

"Where have I heard that before?" I grumbled, glancing at Kisa who was looking sheepish. But there really was no other option; I would have to deal with the consequences of overexerting myself later. "Open the gate to the Beast King! Bjorn!"

"AAAUUGH!" The terrible cry of agony sent a shock down my spine before I too succumbed to the pain.

"Ngh…" I held my hand to my chest tightly, hoping the pressure would ease the ache in my hand.

"Oh… my…" Kisa gasped as she held Bjorn's shoulder as he sunk to the ground, nearly unconscious and delirious with pain. He was rambling incoherently and flinching as shadows from the branches overhead fluttered in time with the wind through the leaves. His injured arm rested on the ground limply, or perhaps he simply had no means to move it. A coin sized hole sputtered and hissed angrily, exposing tendons and a shiny bone. The injury was frothing white foam around the edges and steadily dripping with a black liquid. I noticed the wound was steadily becoming bigger and retched as I realized the source of the black fluid.

"_It's… It's his hand… It's melting,"_ I swallowed the bile building up in the back of my throat. That was exactly what it was: blood coagulating, fur dissolving, flesh decomposing into an inky liquefied mass, dripping steadily from Bjorn's hand. The pain being transmitted to me was excruciating itself; I couldn't imagine such a thing actually happening to me. _"He'll never use his hand again,"_ I realized blearily through a haze of pain. _"How can Rune help him?"_

"Blondie… May I partake of your magic please?" The spirit in mind asked in a completely serious tone despite the unoriginal nickname. I complied with her request as best I could, though I was quickly becoming overwhelmed with exhaustion and pain. I deliriously noticed that the bubbles of light that surrounded her form were now a pastel yellow and bright pink.

"Tralala," She sang energetically, completely nonsensical. "Pifawt cetikyah!" It sounded like she was simply making up words and I was about to scold her for not being serious before I felt a real drain of magic. She was really doing something after all!

As Rune continued to sing and babble, one orb separated from the flowing motions of the rest. It wavered, forming a symbol I didn't recognize before seeping into the wound on Bjorn's hand. The pain in my own lessened, the sharp sting no longer enough to keep me conscious after using almost all of my magic power today. In fact, I had probably used up tomorrow's magic as well.

"_Levy would love to study that rune,"_ I thought blearily as I watched the wound close and heal at an astonishing rate._ "Come to think of it, Erza would love to study Kisa's armor too…_" My vision darkened and I felt myself fall into a dreamless state of unconsciousness.

**-Kisa-**

"Lucy!" I screamed as she collapsed to the ground. I scrambled over to her, rolling my friend onto her back. "Oi, wake up!" I patted her cheek gently. She didn't even groan and seemed to be completely out cold.

"She'll be okay," Rune stated, checking Bjorn over. "She's just tired is all. We have more important things to worry about."

"More important?" I was confused. Weren't stellar spirits supposed to care about stellar spirit mages? I looked over to her to say something when I noticed what Rune meant.

Bjorn was convulsing on the ground in a horrific seizure. I gently set Lucy down and went to Bjorn, attempting to hold him still. "He's reacting to the poison still in his system," Rune explained as he began drooling and shaking, his eyes rolling back to show the whites of his eyes.

"You can't heal that too? Like you did with his injury?"

She shook her head sadly. "I can only heal injuries and wounds with external causes like cuts, bruises, and broken bones. Or similar things," She explained. "Poison, illness, stuff like that? I can't do anything myself about those."

"You don't seem too concerned though," I observed. "And you said 'myself' so you know something we can do."

"Hehehe," She giggled nervously. "You may not like it though…"

"Just tell me," I sighed. I'd do anything to save my friends.

"Well, actually… Lucy is the antidote," I gave her a blank stare. She didn't actually say that, did she? Lucy is the antidote?

"What do you mean?" I mumbled darkly, not liking where this was going. "You better just mean it's her secondary ability through your contract."

"Well… yes and no," Rune admitted. I glared angrily at her, silently threatening her to explain. "Alright, alright! I get it! Geez… Overreacting much?" She looked away, pouting. I growled to let her know I was listening. "Well… My secondary ability is unique. It activates as soon as she contracted with me. Magic is inserted into her bloodstream, attacking foreign matter and basically keeping her healthy. Make sense?" I nodded. "So basically, she is extremely resilient to poison, viruses, weak forms of influential magic, stuff like that, okay?

"How does that help Bjorn?" I asked hesitantly, knowing already I wouldn't like the answer.

"Well… If her blood is given to another person, that magic is transferred a bit to them. Hence the 'antidote' though I suppose it can be called 'medicine' too." She finished, seemingly satisfied.

"So… I have to give Bjorn her blood?" I flinched at the idea, it seemed repulsive.

"Yup!" Rune confirmed cheerfully. "Making him drink a little should be enough." I shuddered, glad Lucy was unconscious for this. I _really_ did not want to do that but…

I looked at Bjorn who was weakly thrashing on the ground, eyes rolling wildly. "Fine," I growled out. I needed to do this before I lost my nerve.

Shakily, I held out my hand over the ground. Drawing up the remainder of my magic power, I tried to form a blade out of the trace amount of metal in the earth. I felt it solidify in my hand and Rune whistled, impressed. I cried out in frustration, it was much too large and as dull as a butter knife. Summoning more magic, I tried again. It was smaller this time but still too dull to safely give Lucy a small cut.

"Focus!" I hissed to myself. This time, I really concentrated with all my might to create the tiny blade I envisioned. Forgetting even to breath, I strained to make the metal obey my will in forging something sufficient. Coaxing the flecks of metal that resonated deep in the ground, I brought a small amount to the surface. Shaping it carefully, I paid special attention to the edge. Pulling and folding the metal in my mind, I fashioned a sharp-edged dagger with a sturdy handle and gasped for breath as I finished. It wasn't pretty, but it would do the job. It was entirely metal from the razor sharp point to the end of the handle, making it slightly unbalanced. However, the double-edged blade was sharp and would produce a clean cut. That was all that mattered.

I dragged Bjorn over to where Lucy slept before grimacing and drawing the blade lightly across Lucy's pinky finger. It began bleeding immediately and I quickly held the appendage over Bjorn's open mouth. Crimson drops fell onto his tongue, but nothing much happened.

"It has to be more than that…" Rune stated quietly.

I snarled in frustration. Bringing back the dagger, I nicked Lucy's arm this time. Now a small trickle of blood formed and I held it to drop into Bjorn's mouth. After a moment, he made a swallowing sound and I had to hold back my disgust. If this was what would save him… Save both of them… I would do it.

He coughed weakly so I removed Lucy's arm and hung over him. _"Please… Be okay…"_

He opened one eye blearily, staring at me in contemplation. "Sorry…" He began hoarsely. "For making… you worry…" Then he too passed out.

I sighed in relief, knowing he was feeling better if he could talk and wasn't convulsing. I shook Lucy's shoulder to try and wake her. The sooner she could send back her spirits, the sooner she would recover. But something was wrong. She was astoundingly cold and her breathing was shallow… Too shallow for her to only be sleeping. I quickly pressed my fingers to her neck to check for her pulse. It was there… but weak.

"Something's wrong," I said, upset at her condition.

"She's simply exhausted," Rune observed, unconcerned. "She needs to rest, or maybe even have a mage transfer magic to her."

I sighed, knowing the one person close enough to be of help. "Fine… I'll take them to Polly's house." Experimentally, I tried to change back to a human though I knew it was useless. I had transformed into an Ohju, a few different cats, a new form, and used magic in my alternate forms. I was nearly drained of magic and simply did not have enough to change back. _"That hasn't happened in a long time,"_ I observed dryly, picking up Bjorn in my arms. _"Guess I'll have to surprise Polly…"_ As much as I didn't want to reveal myself to Polly looking like this, I had to get help for Lucy.

"Can you carry Lucy?" I asked Rune. "Bjorn's heavier so I'll take him."

"Uh… No actually," Rune winced uncomfortably. "I can't exactly… walk. I hop."

"You… hop?" I asked, stumped.

"Yup!" And she demonstrated, bouncing around the clearing on her ball. She was already panting slightly from the short distance! I guess she didn't have legs… Only that ball her torso was attached to. But it seemed so inconvenient to have to bounce everywhere… And she wouldn't be able to carry one of my unconscious friends while _hopping_ I guess… It took balance and being lightweight.

I sighed. Damn it… "I'll just carry both of them then," I frowned, shifting Bjorn to hang slumped in my right arm. Wrapping my arm under her knees, I positioned Lucy similarly in my left, both of their heads lolling on my shoulder as I pressed them against my chest. It was incredibly lucky this form seemed to be so strong or I would be in trouble. Leaning back slightly so my two passengers wouldn't fall forward, I began to make my way towards Polly's house.

"_Polly won't tell anyone,"_ I thought nervously. _"She relishes privacy too much to ask anyway... And I'll just tell her I can't tell her anyway! Yeah…"_

I gulped nervously, causing Rune to look at me curiously. I shook my head to wave off any questions and she sniffed before resuming her hopping alongside me. Again, I felt relieved this form had so much upper body strength. I never carried anyone like this, especially not two at the same time with so little effort!

"_Speaking of effort…_" I growled darkly as I remembered the downside to this form. _"Using magic in this body is so hard!"_ As an Ohju, I never struggled with creating wind. It had taken a while to get used to the magic enough to control it completely, but summoning it in the first place was as easy as breathing. Enticing it to go where I wanted and the strength of the gusts had taken minimal practice to master. But this… And I suppose I could call it talking to the elements…. Talking to metal was _hard._ I doubted I would ever feel comfortable using this forms' magic. Making those two swords to drive away the shadow monster required my full attention but they still were ineffective.

"_I really tried to kill that thing,"_ I acknowledged, biting back my revulsion at the thought. I had never killed anyone before, and that thing seemed to have self awareness enough to not be a mindless beast. I was horrified when Polly broke the neck of a rabbit for a stew the first night I spent with her. I had felt something… wrong stirring deep inside me. It was… similar to my desire for freedom when I turned into an Ohju or my desire to protect when I transformed into this form. The feeling absolutely terrified me then and now that I knew what my magic could do, I could not imagine what horror I would turn into. It repulsed me enough at the time that decided to not eat meat anymore, though I made a selfish exception for fish. What monstrosity would I transform into if I drew further upon that feeling? I was petrified to find out, but I had really tried to kill something just hours before._ "And I couldn't,_" I thought grimly. _"Those pieces of metal barely bruised it, let alone scratch it!"_

"Whoa! A tree house!" Rune whistled, impressed as we arrived. Setting aside my thoughts for later, I looked around the familiar forest. It looked the same as when I had left for the market, rooms carved out of two enormous tree trunks with rough steps leading up to the doors. Birds nested in the small cliffs that dipped next to the stairs and an herb garden flourished around the side of the house, partially obscured.

I noted that my footsteps echoed heavily throughout the small enclosure and knew Polly would recognize the presence of intruders soon.

"Get out! Leave now before I make you," A gruff voice predictably shouted from the small garden I had helped care for months ago. I noted with pride that the peach sapling I had planted was growing nicely and would soon be large enough to bear fruit. Quick steps briskly made their way toward us and I gulped nervously. My mouth went dry as she came into view from around a tree.

"Well?" She sniffed in distaste. "What do you humans… want…" She went silent as she saw the forms of her unusual guests. I was glad only one of us was human or she would be livid at the number of intruders.

"H-Hi Polly," I stuttered, shifting uncomfortably with the two limp forms slumped in my arms.

Her eyes widened immeasurably. "The only one who calls me that is… Is that really you?" She strode up to me, leaning up on her tiptoes as she tried to look me in the eye. I winced at her piercing glare and shifted uncomfortably, trying not to look nervous. "Kisa…" She whispered, the ghost of a smile on her lips. I relaxed slightly and opened my mouth to speak.

"D-Yaaaaah!" I yelped in pain as Polyursica reached up to grab one of my long ears, pulling it until I stooped low. I was dangerously close to dropping my two friends but was too scared to say anything.

"Where…" She uttered darkly. "Have you _been?_ Absolutely no warning, no letting me know you were back, and now you bring patients? Typical human…" She sneered.

"B-But-" I managed to mumble before she gave my ear a sharp twist. I whimpered slightly in pain and, seeming satisfied that she made her point, my ear was released. I shook my head to rid myself of the feeling and rebalanced Bjorn who was about to fall.

"Well?" I looked up to see Polyursica already in her house, beckoning me to follow.

"You got in trouble," Rune giggled playfully. I growled but obediently ran to the open door.

"Set them on the furniture," She waved in dismissal as she busied herself making tea. I knew the tea was to calm her nerves rather than to welcome us.

"She's-"

"Drained of magic," Polly snapped briskly. "Yes, I know." She walked over to the bed where I had placed Lucy, placing a finger on her forehead. "There, I inserted a bit of my own power. She should wake up soon though she'll be tired and weak."

"You can do that?" Rune whispered in awe, somehow having managed to squeeze herself through the door. I deposited Bjorn on the couch gently, hoping Rune did nothing to annoy the old healer.

"Easily," She sniffed in dismissal. I noted the small tinge of pride in her voice… Maybe she'd end up liking Rune? They were both healers though their personalities were drastically different.

"_Or not…"_ I admitted. _"It's hopeless now,"_ I knew as soon as I saw the livid expression on Polly's face. Rune managed to knock over a spindly potted plant in the short time we stood in the living room. I braced myself for the inevitable as Polly ranted, berating poor Rune before banishing the sobbing spirit to a corner of the room. Sure enough, as soon as Rune was taken care of Polyursica turned on me.

"And _you,"_ She uttered dangerously. "Sit. Now."

I scrambled to obey, sitting rigidly in front of her as she towered over me. I knelt formally in front of her, uncomfortably tense as I braced myself for her overdue interrogation. Wanting to improve her mood, I decided to keep my answers as concise as possible.

"Where were you?"

"Enca."

"Why?"

"I was kidnapped by slavers to be sold there." Polly paused a little at this, looking slightly pained.

"Is that where you met this girl?"

"Yes. We escaped together."

"She's in Fairy Tail?"

"Yes."

"And so are you now?"

"How did you know?" I asked, perplexed. She simply pointed at my chest, where I could now see the same stamp I had as a human branded into my armor. _"How does that work?"_

"When did you get back?" She interrupted my musings.

"We got back to the Fiore mainland yesterday morning. We arrived in Magnolia town yesterday afternoon."

She nodded once. "Are you okay?"

"W-What?" I stuttered, flabbergasted and caught off guard at the rare display of concern.

"Don't make me repeat myself," She sulked, looking away from me in embarrassment.

"Yeah… I'm okay." I smiled gratefully as she huffed again.

"Did you find Alan?"

"Yes, we met up when I first got back."

"Good," She surprisingly got up and began to walk to the bed, examining Lucy carefully. I sat in shock as she avoided the issue I had been expecting the most during the questioning.

"A-Aren't you going to ask me…" I gulped. "You know… Why I look like this?" I winced at the piercing look she gave me as I admitted the fact.

"Why? Should I ask?" She said.

"Um…" I had no answer to the strange retort.

"Then there is nothing to discuss," She reasoned flippantly. "I already knew your magic was similar to Alan's and I can tell your seal is gone," She stated simply.

"A-Ah… I see…" I sat, still surprised. I should have expected it though; Polly never asked more than was needed.

"Alan looked everywhere for you," Polly continued, effectively changing the subject. "As soon as you didn't return as expected, he traveled all the way to Freesia City to find you. When he heard about girls disappearing in that area, he searched everywhere the entire time you were gone."

"R-Really?" I mumbled, embarrassed. "He didn't have to do that…"

"Men do strange things," She huffed in response. "Especially when they're as determined as Alan is, and with someone as special to them as you are to him."

I ignored the not-so-subtle implication as I realized a bigger problem. Crap. We left Alan, Natsu, and Happy in the marketplace. What could we tell them?

"Un…" Lucy moaned from the bed. I ran over to her side in time to see brown eyes open sleepily to survey the room. "I feel terrible…" She groaned. "Like a hangover but _worse_…"

"Well you shouldn't overexert yourself," Polly brushed me aside to check Lucy's pulse. "It's entirely your own fault. Magic for mages is essentially your life energy. Don't waste it."

"She wasn't wasting it!" I protested, wanting to defend my friend.

"Yeah, we were attacked!" She blurted drowsily. I tried to stop her but to no avail. "And then Bjorn got hurt and I had to heal him!" Lucy seemed to realize what she said as she began to become more aware. Her eyes widened and she gulped nervously, glancing frantically between Polly and I.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Polly continued her examination, knowing Lucy wished she could take it back. Neither of us was very good at keeping secrets apparently… "It's none of my business after all. Besides, why should I care about the affairs of humans?" She sniffed haughtily.

I really loved the cranky old woman sometimes. As she finished her examination and stood up to walk away, I rose to my feet as well. Trying to be as gentle as possible so that my armor wouldn't hurt her, I pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you for everything, Polly…" I told her sincerely. I almost laughed at how much she stuttered and stumbled over her words as she stood awkwardly in my embrace.

I released Polly, knowing I had really pushed my luck with that hug. Luckily, she looked more flustered than angry… But I really appreciated the old woman's sense of privacy. She never pried into other's affairs unless she needed the information to treat their injuries. I walked to stand next to Lucy, inspecting her face for signs of pain.

She glanced at me, noticing my worry. "I'm just tired Kisa, I'm fine otherwise." She smiled reassuringly.

"Alright…" I mumbled, feeling sheepish. Was I really that expressive?

Lucy sighed; looking at Bjorn's sleeping face happily. "I'm just so glad he's going to be okay," She turned to look at Rune who was still standing morosely in a corner. "Thank you… I'm sorry I was so irritable before."

"Yup!" The spirit gulped nervously as Polyursica glared at her for the noise. "J-Just send me back… Scary Lady looks like she wants to eat me…"

"Wha-?" Polly started angrily, raising her broom to smack the spirit. Luckily Lucy was quick; Rune vanished moments before the broom would have collided with her head.

Lucy and I broke out laughing as Polly fumed. "Hehe," I giggled, wiping away a tear. "Those three would have laughed their asses off if they were here."

"Shit," Lucy swore. "What are we supposed to tell them? We just ran off and now that stuff happened… Can you change back by the way? You're really tall in this form… My neck hurts from looking up so much."

"Nope," I admitted cheerfully. "I'm almost as out of magic as you."

Lucy sighed again. "So we can't go back to Magnolia until you can. I also want to keep an eye on Bjorn and see how he is." She eyed her sleeping spirit.

"You can use this house tonight," Polly mumbled. "I was going to go out and pick some herbs tonight anyway."

"Thanks," I smiled in gratitude. Polly almost certainly had no such plans, but she needed an excuse to let us stay. Actually it was an excuse for herself rather than us; she really did not like humans despite the fact that she could become fond of them. She walked out the door after this, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Still… What are we going to tell them?" Lucy muttered as the door clicked shut. She twisted her blond hair in her hands, something of a nervous habit she developed in the last few months. "I have no idea what we can say… They're probably worried sick…"

I winced, knowing it was true. We had barely been back a day before disappearing again… I didn't know about Natsu, but Alan was as worried now as he would be furious later. "I'm sick of hiding things," I admitted. "It's just… It's so tiring. And I know they suspect something anyway…"

"What are we supposed to do?" Lucy rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Just admit everything?"

"That's exactly what you should do," A hoarse voice growled out dangerously from the now open door. I stood frozen, looking with wide eyes at the three people who had entered Polly's house. "In fact Kisa, why don't you start from the beginning and tell us everything you've been hiding?" Alan continued in the scariest voice I had ever heard him utter.

"Yeah, Lucy… Why don't you tell us what's been going on?" Natsu frowned, flames surrounding his clenched fists as he glared at us.

Lucy and I gulped in unison. "Shit."

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

Another cliffhanger! Sorry if that's mean but I like them a bit… Thank you as usual for reading! How do people like the newest spirit? And I have a question… How would readers like me to try writing from one of the boy's perspective? I'm considering it though I kind of like only having only two characters to focus on. Please tell me if you find any errors and thank you again for reading! I hope this chapter was interesting to read.


	13. Chapter 12: Newfound Determination

I have decided to keep this in the two girl's perspective to keep things simple. Thank you everyone who gave me your opinion, I really appreciate it! Sorry for the delay, I have no excuse to give you all. But thank you for all the reviews, they really motivated me and I own nothing as usual.

~~~Fairy Tail~~~

**-Lucy-**

I was completely aware of how much I resembled a fish at that moment but my jaw seemed to be paralyzed. My tongue went dry as I gaped at Natsu, frozen in place and unable to say a word. He stared directly at me, his expression a guilt-inducing mixture of hurt and sadness. I wanted to disappear into the blankets, his stare burning a hole in my resolve to stay silent.

"Luuuuucccyyy!" Happy whimpered piteously, flying through an open window over the bed I was currently occupying. He propelled himself immediately into my chest, sobbing and snotting heavily. The damp spot on my shirt finally jerked me out of my shocked state, and I awkwardly pat him on his fuzzy head. Looking up at me with big, teary eyes, Happy sobbed louder than ever. "We thought you left without us! Ngh-" He choked as a fresh wave of sobs wracked his tiny body. I finally pulled myself together and gave him a reassuring hug, still aware of how Natsu stared at me. "W-W-Where's… sniff… Kisa?" He managed to squeak between sobs.

Crap. My neck cracked as I quickly turned my head to look at Kisa who was frozen in shock. And still in the form of a purple, humanoid cat. I glanced worriedly at Alan whose surprised, but _knowing_ look was fixated on my friend. He slowly stepped toward Kisa who was still frozen in shock and staring as if hypnotized at Alan's approaching form. He stood in front of her, uncomfortably close with barely two inches of space between their chests. She visibly gulped as he scrutinized her face, not breaking eye contact once he had it.

"Why?" He whispered, voice thick with emotion. "Why do you always keep things to yourself?" She visibly flinched, backing away slowly. He followed however, eventually backing her against the wall of the tree house. Her ears twisted back and she looked away when she found she could not escape. "Tell me everything. I'm not as useless as you think, Kisa."

"What?" Natsu yelled, making me glance his way. His face lit up slightly in excitement and he finally looked away from me. "_That's_ Kisa? You wanna fight? You look tough like that! Like Erza!" He cracked his knuckles gleefully as I groaned. Stupid Natsu…

"Kiiiiiiissssaaa!" Happy cried, flying over to her now and tackling her head. She stumbled, letting out a soft 'oomph' but righting herself at the last second. A tiny smile adorned her feline features as she reached up to scratch the blue cat between his large ears. He purred excitedly which contrasted greatly with the sour look on Alan's face as Kisa temporarily ignored him. "You really _are_ a cat! I knew it!" He sighed happily, perched on her head between her ears. He glared down condescendingly at Alan, sneering in disgust. "Like I knew you were a no-good _dog_. Blech!" Happy spluttered.

"Not a dog…" Alan mumbled in reply.

"A wolf is close enough to a dog," Happy sniffed. So that's why they hadn't gotten along… Happy hated dogs. The only exception was Plue for some reason... Wait. Wolf?

"Ack!" I yelped as Natsu's face materialized in front of me, effectively drawing my attention back to him. "Not so close…" I complained as he scrutinized my face with uncharacteristic seriousness. When had he walked over here anyway?

"You're hurt," He stated simply.

"What are you talking about?" I was stumped. What did he mean? Bjorn was the one who was hurt! I stole a glance toward the couch he rested on. Natsu, Happy, and Alan hadn't seemed to notice him yet but they might soon… At least he seemed to be breathing steadily; I felt no pain from him either so I knew he was fine.

He pointed at my exposed shoulder. I looked at where he pointed and winced. My skin was already starting to bruise from Kisa's armor bumping into me when she carried us to Rune's hiding place. An apple sized purple-green blotch mottled my shoulder; judging from the stiffness I felt, it wasn't the only one.

Kisa winced. "Sorry… That was my fault," She shifted uncomfortably when he turned to glare at her. I lightly slapped his head as he opened his mouth, knowing he would just blurt out something stupid.

"She had to carry me… Don't overreact," I explained as he whipped his head around to look at me, pouting at the smack. "Metal and piggyback rides don't mix well."

"Oh," He pouted more, seeming disappointed at being interrupted before he could start a fight. His eyes widened as he spotted something. I yelped as he snatched my arm from under the covers, pulling me awkwardly to him.

"_Wait… When did I get cut?"_ I thought in surprise as he sniffed dried blood smeared on my forearm. It had partially stopped the flow coming from an inch long cut, seeming too clean to have come from a stray branch or jagged stone. It oozed slightly as I tentatively touched the laceration.

Kisa hunched her shoulders, shuffling over to Natsu and I guiltily. "T-That was me too…" She mumbled. "I-I had to… Bjorn was… poison," She stuttered heavily, not making any sense whatsoever.

"Explanation. Now."

I turned in surprise at the vehemence in Alan's voice. I had never thought the soft spoken man _could_ speak so sternly, much less directed towards Kisa.

Kisa's eyes narrowed in response, giving him a calculating look. Her gaze drifted from his face to mine, coming to a rest slightly above my head. How strange…

"Ahhh," She sighed finally, calmly walking towards me with her ears pressed down. She looked as though she was the very picture of dejection. Reaching me, she hugged me close with shaking arms. I glanced at Natsu and Happy who were looking on sadly at me, while Alan glared at my cat-like friend in suspicion. My right ear, where Kisa's mouth was positioned suddenly tickled with a small whisper. "Call back Bjorn."

I immediately complied and was enveloped in metal, purple fur, and shards of glass. As Bjorn vanished, before the three guests of the tree house could do more than gasp, I was on the ground. I pieced together the last few seconds as grass brushed my cheek and Kisa's weight was lifted from me to reveal the bright blue sky.

"_She jumped through the window…" _I managed to think as my head stopped spinning. I was amazingly unscathed but bright red spots of blood dripped from Kisa's head and ears. But now what would we do?

Kisa answered my unspoken question with a throaty screech of pain. She hugged herself tightly, body elongating and growing impossibly larger. Violet fur turned to silvery white and cat features morphed to wolf and bird.

"Kisa!" I heard a male voice yell. I pulled myself to a sitting position just in time to see Alan and Natsu running out of the tree house towards us.

"Wait! I thought…" Natsu looked confused for a moment before his eyes rested on me. "Oh no…"

A loud thump behind me indicated Kisa had taken a step so I moved to look at her. She growled low, with a sorrowful tone I had never heard in her voice. She stood transfixed, staring behind me almost in expectation. A strange series of noises caused me to begin turning once again to look at our friends, but before I could the Ohju's mouth opened wide and a demonic screech sounded throughout Polyursica's garden.

It was one of the worst noises I had ever heard. It was paralyzing, so painful that I immediately attempted to cover my ears. It was more unbearable than my ears could take, a loud pop and warm liquid running down the side of my neck signified a broken eardrum. The piercing screech brought tears to my eyes with the emotion carried through it. I attempted again to cover my ears or wipe my tears, but for the second time I failed. Puzzled, I tried to open my mouth as Kisa closed her mouth and the cry subsided.

"_I'm paralyzed!"_ I realized. My entire body was rigid, breathing and looking around was the full extent of my movement. My heart began to beat faster as Kisa moved her enormous head right in front of me, teeth slightly bared. If I could have gulped, I would have. I had rarely noticed this because she was my friend, but the Ohju was as terrifying as it was beautiful. Gleaming white teeth larger than my hand smiled sharply at me and my heart lurched.

"_She's my friend. Kisa is my friend. A friend!" _I cried desperately in my head as the large mouth opened and exposed even more of the sharp canine teeth. _"She would never hurt me."_ I repeated in a mantra as the teeth drew closer. If I could have, I would have screamed as Kisa's mouth enclosed my body. Her teeth gently closed around my collarbone and thighs, not breaking skin but firmly holding me in her jaws. I was rapidly lifted to a horizontal position, uncomfortable but unhurt in Kisa's mouth.

"_She's just carrying me out," _I nearly wept in relief. This was still disconcerting, hot breath enveloped my body with the paralysis suppressing a shudder. To distract myself, I glanced in the direction of Natsu, Happy, and Alan. _"Are they not able to move too?" _I almost gagged as surprise. Another Ohju knelt in front of Kisa, quivering but unmoving.

Pure anger radiated from the Ohju's eyes, glinting red in the sunlight. A different eye color from Kisa. It was also darker than she was, leaning toward the grayer side of silver than white like my friend. The Ohju differed in other ways as well. Kisa's tendrils and tail feathers were light purple with blue-green highlights, this creature's were maroon. It was also larger, more muscular, than she was. A male?

"_Alan!"_ I realized with a start. I glanced toward the beast's feet. For confirmation, Natsu and Happy were unmoving next to the Ohju's feet but Alan was nowhere to be seen. Moving my eyes to again look at his eyes, I again saw the rage directed at the one carrying me in her mouth.

"_Why aren't we leaving?"_ I thought nervously as the seconds ticked by. _"We need to get out of here while everyone else can't move,"_ I knew Alan would never let Kisa leave again after this fiasco. I was too scared to look at Natsu, but I knew he would also be telling me with his eyes to stay. I couldn't see Kisa's face from my position, but she seemed to be hypnotized by the look Alan was giving her. The pain, anger, and pleading held in that gaze obviously said 'leave and I will never forgive you.'

A small, pitiful growl made the teeth contract slightly, as Kisa finally began to move. She turned, breaking away from Alan, and with a great whooshing sound launched us into the air.

"_Ooooohhhh,"_ I wailed silently in despair. This was a hundred… no, a thousand times worse than flying on the back of Kisa or the Roc. With every beat of wings, the teeth holding me in place would be slightly too tight or frighteningly loose as Kisa's head bobbed in the headwind. My bruises became more aggravated until it was nearly unbearable and my ear was still throbbing in pain. But I couldn't help but feel I deserved it. As the minutes dragged on, I couldn't help but feel I earned this.

I had never seen Natsu look as pitiful and hurt as when I had glimpsed his expression when we turned away.

**-Kisa-**

I had done it now. I could never see Alan again, I was sure of it. Even if he ever forgave me, I would never forgive myself for making him have that expression. From his point of view, he could even say I betrayed him. After all, I had never even tried to explain anything… He didn't even know I could imitate his transformation into an Ohju.

I banked to the right, having flown south from Polly's house according to the sun. I was being careless, not leaving a false trail, but I couldn't imagine those three following us. Trying to not jostle the girl held in my mouth, I landed on a stretch of dull sand bordering the salty ocean.

Depositing Lucy as gently as I could, I winced seeing her covered in drool despite my best efforts. Verifying she was bruised but not broken, I promptly coughed heavily and fell forward with a crash. My last image before my vision went dark was of Lucy crying and dragging herself toward me.

* * *

><p>"She'll be okie dokie now, promise!"<p>

"But…"

"The twerp said she'll be fine, give it a rest."

"You know-" A feminine voice started angrily.

"Yes, I know how critical her condition was! But it was her fault, she was out of magic but transformed and flew anyway."

"Don't worry, I healed her already."

"_Who are they talking about?"_ I thought groggily. I slowly opened an eye, surprised it was dark. Last I remember, it had been late afternoon.

"Kisa!" Lucy cried, throwing herself towards me. She began scratching my head and I sighed in content. My dreams had not been pleasant. "You're alright…" She continued to sob.

"**Why is it dark?"** I grumbled, not wanting to remember why I was feeling so uneasy right now.

"Because you're an idiot," A masculine voice called out behind Lucy. My heart leapt in my chest. Alan?

Bjorn stepped into my line of sight and I grunted in dejection. Now I remembered. I would probably never be with him again… **"How so?"** I growled to hide my disappointment. **"And how are you feeling?"**

"I'm in perfect condition, unlike a certain someone. You used magic when you shouldn't have," He continued. "You're lucky Lucy found Rune or the damage may have been irreversible."

"But why?" Lucy defended. "You haven't explained anything! Why did she cough blood?" I recoiled in shock. Had I really been that bad off?

"This idiot used her life force when she ran out of magic. She was completely out," He glared at me. "Your internal organs began to deteriorate to be converted into magic."

"Luckily, I was here!" Rune sang cheerfully, blissfully ignorant of the general mood.

"Sorry Rune, but can you head back now?" Lucy placed a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "I'm tired."

"Of course! Call me anytime to play, okay?" She managed to squeak before vanishing.

"She's exhausting," Lucy complained, sitting on the ground. She began to draw shapes in the sand absentmindedly. "But I didn't know you could do that."

"You're not supposed to," Bjorn glared at me. "It's extremely dangerous. If Lucy didn't have Rune, you could have been permanently hurt or possibly have died. Think! There's a reason you feel exhausted when you're low on magic, that's your life energy!" He ranted, spitting slightly in anger.

"**It's not like we had a choice!" **I howled back at him, sorrow and frustration getting the better of me. **"That vision must not come true!"**

"The one you two said Chrona showed you?" Bjorn said skeptically. "I don't know if that's truly possible. I have never heard of anything like it before and it seems suspicious to me."

"You didn't see it," Lucy muttered forlornly, hugging her knees close to her chest.

Bjorn frowned, obviously unconvinced. "Send me back and I'll ask Chrona if she's awake. Get some rest you two," He quipped before disappearing.

"To answer your question, you've been out for over a day and a half now. I called Rune when you passed out and coughed up blood," Lucy mumbled uncomfortably. "Lucky for us that Polyursica gave me a little magic before we…" She trailed off with a sigh.

She crawled toward me to lean against my cheek. We sat in silence for a bit, absorbed in our own depressing thoughts. As the sun began to rise and dawn approached, it was apparent neither of us would sleep.

"So, how did you do that?" Lucy finally spoke.

"**Do what?"**

"Paralyze everyone. You've never done anything like it before."

"**Oh,"** I hadn't thought she would want to talk about such a painful thing so soon after it occurred. **"I used my magic. It was a burst of compressed air at a high vibration. Like a shockwave."**

"How does that paralyze?" She continued.

"**Using the high pitched sound temporarily stuns nearby organisms. It's a defense mechanism usually, I just manipulated it and amplified it with my wind magic."**

"Oh. It busted my eardrum."

"**Sorry…"**

"It's okay. Rune healed it."

We were both trying to strike up conversation. Even with Lucy right next to me, I felt so lonely. The reunion and becoming a member of Fairy Tail seemed almost cruel at the moment, we had been so happy. But now I had to bring us back to the present.

"**What do we do now?"** I wondered, knowing Lucy had the exact same question.

"We can't go back to Fairy Tail now. Natsu, Alan, and even Happy probably told Master about what happened. They'll have questions we can't answer." She sighed dejectedly. My friend had already cried as much as she would allow herself. She became so strong after those months of traveling.

Wait, traveling?

"**We could go around training,"** I admitted. **"Like when we were coming back to Fiore. Get even stronger so that vision doesn't matter anymore."**

"Strong enough that we could protect everyone?" Lucy looked skeptical. "I'd have to be even stronger than Erza…" She muttered to herself.

"**We could go back that way,"** I continued, the idea sounding more likeable as I thought about it. **"It won't be the same as before, but at least we **_**could**_** go back eventually."**

"We'd have to find the rest of the keys," Lucy pondered, less depressed than before. "And do you have more forms you can take?"

"**Yes,"** I stated. I knew I did. It was mustering the courage to use them that was the problem. But it was the ray of hope we needed. We could have a purpose now.

"We'll do it," Lucy declared, more confident than I had heard all night. "I have to see Natsu again. I need to explain everything and apologize. Maybe we…" She trailed off again. Blushing slightly, she shook her head as though shaking off the thought. But I knew what she meant; I had the same hopes for meeting Alan again. "It will definitely be a distraction at least. And I can find out about Mama that way."

"**Then it's settled?"** I growled with anticipation.

"It's settled," Lucy confirmed. "Training begins again after breakfast."

~~~Fairy Tail~~~**  
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I realize this is quite a short chapter, but I thought it was better than nothing. I will continue as though the events after Tenrou Island never happened as in the manga. Let me know what you think! Thank you for reading.


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